GRANTHAM, Pa. - No. 6 Messiah College women's basketball claimed their third-straight MAC Commonwealth title after they defeated the second-seeded Lycoming Warriors 53-46 on Saturday afternoon. It was a packed house in Hitchcock Arena and the Falcons were trailing the Warriors 37-31 going into the fourth quarter. Messiah outscored Lycoming 22-9 in the final ten minutes to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament.

Maci Thornton led all scorers with 23 points and Alecia Rohrer, who was named the tournament MVP, added 13 points and eight rebounds. Fellow seniors Kristen Smoluk and Becca Isaac also contributed with eight and five points, respectively. Messiah moved to 26-1 with this victory, which is a program best.

Low Scoring First Quarter
Maci Thornton opened the first quarter with a three-point field goal looking to spark the Falcons' offense, however they remained scoreless until the 2:53 minute mark when Thornton once again knocked down a jumper. Lycoming outscored Messiah 10-5 and headed into the second quarter with a slight advantage.

Messiah Starts To Find A Rhythm
The Falcons turned things up a notch and outscored the Warriors 16-7 in the second quarter, they also went seven-of-eight (87.5%) from the free-throw line. Messiah tied the score up at 11-11 after going on a 6-to-1 run early in the quarter. Kristen Smoluk started things off with a jumper, followed by Maci Thornton knocking in two free-throws to bring the lead down to two points. Alecia Rohrer tied the game up after she hit a jumper off of Haley Maraday's feed. Both teams continued to exchange points back-and-forth and Messiah was up 18-15, but Lycoming drained two free-throws with under six seconds to play to bring Messiah's advantage down to one-point. However, Maci Thornton launched a three from deep at the buzzer to put the Falcons up 21-17 going into halftime.

Falcons' Foul Trouble, Warriors Come Alive
The Warriors came out on fire after the halftime break and opened the quarter on a 9-to-2 run to take a 26-23 advantage over the Falcons. Kristen Smoluk hit a free-throw and Alecia Rohrer knocked in a jumper to tie the game back up at 26-26, but Lycoming continued to fight and built up a six-point advantage going into the fourth quarter (37-31). Messiah got into foul trouble in the third quarter, committing nine total fouls and gave Lycoming ten free-throw attempts in ten minutes. The Warriors also had some sharp shooting in third quarter, they were 44.4% from the field (4-of-9) and 91.7% from the charity stripe (11-of-12). Messiah needed to regain control of this game in order to pick-up their third straight championship title.

The Turning Point
Lycoming opened the quarter extending their lead to eight points (39-31), however the Falcons slowly began narrowing the scoring margin. Messiah was trailing Lycoming 41-40 with just over five minutes remaining in the game when Alecia Rohrer completed an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Falcons a two-point lead (43-31). This was the turning point for Messiah as they hadn't led since 7:48 in the third quarter. The Warriors responded by going one-of-two from the free-throw line to bring the Falcons' advantage down to one. However, Becca Isaac knocked down a three-pointer from the wing to extend Messiah's lead (46-42) and to gain the momentum for the rest of the game. The Falcons continued to build upon their lead with two successful free-throws from Alecia Rohrer, however Erica Lutz from Lycoming scored a bucket to bring the margin back down to four points (48-44). Rohrer once again hit a clutch shot for Messiah followed by three good free-throws from Maci Thornton to close out the game 53-46.

19th NCAA Appearance
The Falcons will now await their draw in the NCAA Tournament. Messiah will be making their 19th appearance to the big dance in program history. The NCAA selection show is scheduled for Monday at 2:30 p.m. Continue to check GoMessiah.com for upcoming schedules and results.