WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Messiah women's basketball team continued their winning ways as they defeated the Lycoming Warriors 80-50 on Wednesday evening. The Falcons had an impressive start to the game, outscoring the Warriors 48-21 after the first two quarters. Messiah continued to dominate on the offensive and defensive ends scoring a total of 80 points, which is the most they've scored in a game this season. The Falcons also outrebounded Lycoming 41-32 on the evening and caused 25 Warrior turnovers. Messiah moved to 8-1 overall and 2-0 in the MAC Commonwealth.

In The Box
Eleven different Falcons contributed on the scoreboard in this conference victory. Leah Springer led all scorers with 23 points and 13 rebounds, collecting her sixth double-double of the season. Jayneisha Davis added 13 points and six steals, while Megan Zimmerman and Sidney Stutzman each scored eight. Messiah did a great job protecting the basketball and only had nine turnovers in 40 minutes; this is the fewest number of turnovers they've had in a game this season. The Falcons were disciplined on the defensive end, collecting 16 steals and 27 defensive rebounds.

Falcons Shoot Lights Out
The Falcons opened up the first quarter with an early 4-0 advantage thanks to back-to-back jumpers from Grace Cryan and Megan Zimmerman. Messiah's ineluctable defense held the Warriors scoreless until the seven-minute mark when they found their first basket of the night. Eleana Eckley answered right away with a three-pointer to extend Messiah's lead to five points (7-2), this was followed by a coast-to-coast layup from Jayniesha Davis which forced the Warrior's coaching staff to take a timeout. Lycoming came out of the timeout scoring four-straight points to bring the Falcons' lead down to three (9-6). However, Messiah responded an explosive 11-0 run to pull ahead 20-6 midway through the quarter. Leah Springer, Jayneisha Davis, and Sidney Stutzman all contributed to this scoring spurt. The Warriors ended the Falcons' run at the 1:47 mark with a pair of free throws, yet again the Falcons extended the lead to 24-8 after buckets from Megan Zimmerman and Sidney Stutzman.

Messiah's defense was extraordinary in the first quarter, holding the Warriors to just ten points in the first ten minutes and also outrebounding Lycoming 11-6.

Messiah Maintains Their Intensity
Messiah continued to push their tempo and play solid man-to-man defense in the second quarter. Megan Zimmerman opened the quarter with a quick basket followed by a three pointer from Jayneisha Davis to put the Falcons up 29-10. The Warriors answered with a layup from Erica Lutz, however the Falcons continued to control the pace of the game and launched off on a 9-0 dash. Leah Springer started this run with three-straight baskets, while Jayneisha Davis added two more points to put the Falcons up 38-12. Midway through the quarter, Alex Jones scored a layup for the Warriors to start to chip away at Messiah's lead. However, the Falcons were able to close out the quarter on a 10-to-7 run to hold a 48-21 lead going into the halftime break.

In the first half, Messiah shot an impressive 52.6% from the field and were a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Leah Springer led all scorers in the first two quarters with 17 points and 11 rebounds. The Falcons also did their job holding the Warriors' top offensive player, Akilah McFadden, scoreless in the first 20 minutes.

Warriors' Adjustments
Lycoming came out of the halftime break looking to make modifications to slow down Messiah's offense. They displayed a 1-3-1 zone on the defensive end which held the Falcons scoreless in their first three offensive possessions. On the offensive end, Lycoming opened up with seven unanswered points to bring Messiah's lead down to 20 (48-28). Leah Springer collected the Falcons' first basket of the quarter with a layup in the paint, but the Warriors answered the very next possession. Grace Cryan then hit a three to put the Falcons up 53-30, however Lycoming's Akilah McFadden scored a three pointer of her own to bring the lead back down to 20 (53-33). Messiah finally found their rhythm and bounded to a 9-2 run to close out the quarter to take a 62-35 lead going into the final quarter of play.

Falcons Soar To Victory
Messiah continued to take care of business on both ends of the court and outscored the Warriors 18-15 in the final quarter. 13 of the 18 fourth quarter points came from Messiah bench players. The Falcons were also able to score nine points off of turnovers in the last ten minutes. As previously mentioned, this is the most points Messiah has scored in a game this season. The last time the Falcons scored more than 80 points was on Feb. 13, 2018 when Messiah defeated Hood College 83-56.

Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 14 when they host Alvernia University on Jordan Court. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.