GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah women's basketball team defeated the Stevenson Mustangs 59-53 in a hard fought battle Wednesday night on Jordan Court. The Falcons were trailing 44-42 with just under eight minutes left to play, but Messiah pieced together a 17-to-9 run to secure their sixth victory of the season. The Falcons moved to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in the MAC Commonwealth with their win over the Mustangs.

Leah Springer led the Falcons with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Jayneisha Davis had a career high 21 points. Grace Cryan led the Falcons' defense with three steals on the evening.

Back and Forth Action
The Falcons opened the game with an early 6-2 lead thanks to back-to-back layups from Jayneisha Davis and a jumper from Brooke Breinich. However, the Mustangs answered to tie things up at 6-6. This small run didn't faze Messiah and they were back on top 12-6 after a layup from Leah Springer and two more from Jayneisha Davis, which gave Davis eight points in the first quarter. A late 5-0 run from Stevenson cut Messiah's lead down to just one-point going into the second quarter.

Mustangs Pull Ahead, Falcons Respond
Eleana Eckley opened the quarter up with a pair of free throws to put Messiah back up by three points (14-11). However, the Mustangs responded on a 9-to-2 run to take a 23-16 advantage over the Falcons. Messiah started to step up their defensive intensity, causing six Mustang turnovers in the last four minutes of the quarter. This defensive effort ignited Messiah to a 9-0 run to close out the quarter and to take a 25-23 lead going into halftime. Leah Springer collected six of these nine points with Eleana Eckley adding three for the Falcons.

Series of Runs
Once again, the two teams competed with each other in the third quarter, but Messiah outscored Stevenson 15-13 to take a four point lead (40-36) going into the final 10 minutes of play. The Falcons opened the third quarter with a quick four-point dash to pull ahead 29-23. Stevenson answered with a 9-to-3 run to take a 33-32 lead over Messiah. Sidney Stutzman knocked down a three-pointer to spark the Falcons on an 8-0 scoring spree. Jayneisha Davis collected the other five points during this run to put Messiah up 40-33. The Mustangs responded with three-points at the end of the quarter and the Falcons held a four-point (40-36) lead going into the final quarter.

Stevenson Regains The Lead
The Mustangs opened the fourth quarter on an 8-to-2 run to take a 44-42 lead with less than eight minutes to play. Stevenson's Kellie Johnson scored back-to-back three pointers to lead the Mustangs' offense, she would finish the game with 14 points. With 6:26 remaining on the clock, Jayneisha Davis tied the game up at 44-44 after a Stevenson turnover.

Falcons Outscore Mustangs 17-9
The two squads exchanged baskets back-and-forth midway through the fourth quarter, but then Leah Springer knocked down a three-pointer to give Messiah a 49-46 lead. Jayneisha Davis followed up this big shot with a jumper of her own to extend the lead to five points. The Falcons began to pull ahead and the score was 55-48 with 3:27 remaining in the game, however the Mustangs had one more surge offensively and attempted to take control of the game. Stevenson scored five-straight points to bring the score down to 55-53, but once again the Falcons regained the momentum and closed out the game on a four-point run to pick up a 59-53 victory.

What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 7 when they travel to York College for a 1:00 p.m. start. The last time these two teams met was on Nov. 8, 2018 in which the Falcons fell to the Spartans 69-66. That was Messiah's only regular season loss last season.