SCRANTON, Pa. – The Messiah women's basketball season came to a close this evening as they fell to Tufts University in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament 70-39. A tough loss for the Falcons but not to be overlooked is the tremendous season they had finishing 28-2 on the year.
 
The 27 wins are the second-most in program history and highest since the 2007-08 season. Earlier this year Messiah captured its second-straight MAC Commonwealth Championship to make their 18^th appearance in the big dance.
 
Offense was a struggle for Messiah throughout the game as they shot just 9-43 (20.9%) in the game while Tufts was 24-52 (46%). The Falcons were also cold from the three-point range going 0-9.
 
Hannah Brown led the team with nine points while Leah Springer added eight and Maci Thornton had seven points with four steals in the game.
 
After a few minutes of scoreless basketball, the Jumbos went on an 8-0 run and just worked up from there as they outscored the Falcons 22-8 in the first quarter. Messiah again struggled in the second quarter scoring just eight points to Tufts 20 and it was 42-16 at the half.
 
The second half, unfortunately, provided much of the same as Tufts continued to be a force on offense and defensively held Messiah, although they were only outscored 13-10 in the third quarter. With a strong lead, it appeared as though the Jumbos were going to win this game and did that adding 15 points in the fourth quarter to the Falcon's 13, going on to win 70-39.
 
Although it wasn't the outcome the team hoped for, as aforementioned a tremendous season as this year's team made many strides throughout the year. This year's team produced an 11^th MAC Commonwealth Championship, 18^th NCAA Tournament Appearance, and multiple team honors. Three seniors, Hannah Brown, Jen Fairbanks, and Kaitlyn Hoff will depart the program having made a strong mark in Messiah women's basketball. Notably Hoff became the eight player in program history to eclipse the 1,000 point mark back in February and they all finished a four-year career going 84-27 and helped the team win two-straight conference championships and back-to-back NCAA appearances.