GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa. - The Messiah women's basketball team opened the 2021-22 season with a tight, 53-44 victory over the Salisbury Sea Gulls to begin the Gwynedd Mercy Tournament. The Falcons used a balance offensive effort, seeing four players tie for the team lead with eight points and three more finish with at least five.
 
As a team, Messiah turned the ball over 29 times while forcing just 11 Salisbury turnovers in the contest. Despite struggling to hold possession, the Falcons held the Sea Gulls to just a 26.7% shooting effort from the floor (16-60).
 
With the victory, Messiah moves on to face the host Gwynedd Mercy Griffins tomorrow afternoon in the Tournament Championship at 2:00 p.m. The Griffins defeated Penn State Lehigh Valley 109-99 in an extremely high scoring game that everyone would be surprised to see tomorrow between the Falcons and Griffins.
 
How it Happened
The Falcons overcame some early turnover issues in the first few positions to take a 21-14 lead at the end of the first quarter of action. Five minutes into the contest, Messiah trailed 12-11, but went on a 10-2 run to close out the period. Faith Grula and Reese Harden combined for all 10 points during the run for the Falcons with Harden making a pair of jumpers and Harden scoring six points.
 
After 35 combined points in the first quarter the rest of the game went at a much more lethargic pace with the two teams no more than 23 points, combined in a given period.
 
In the second, Messiah added four more points to their lead in the opening three minutes of the period thanks to a layup from Morgan Adams and a pair of free throws from Leah Springer. After the Springer free throws, Messiah led 25-14, but the Sea Gulls went on an 11-4 run to trim the lead to as few as four at 29-25 with just under two minutes remaining in the half.
 
A bucket from Morgan Adams gave the Falcons a 31-25 lead heading into the break.
 
Messiah mustered just 10 points in the third quarter as Salisbury cut the lead down the three at 41-38 with 10 minutes remaining in the contest.  
 
After a Salisbury layup started the fourth quarter, Messiah led by just one point at 41-40, but the Falcons never handed over the lead. The Falcons went on a 10-2 run in the middle of the period to pull away and take a nine-point lead with 2:15 left in regulation. Chloe Milanesi led the effort during the run with a pair of layups.
 
The Sea Gulls hit a jumper with 1:55 remaining, but Eleana Eckley knocked down a pair of free throws to ice the game in the final 30 seconds, giving Messiah a 53-44 victory.
 
Dominating Down Low
The Falcons scored 34 of their 53 points in the paint compared to just 14 points in the lane for the Sea Gulls. The Falcons were also dominate on the glass, grabbing 35 rebounds compared to just 21 from Salisbury.
 
Messiah attacked the rim often in this one, attempting only three shots from beyond the arc, going 1-3 from three points land.
 
Turnover Struggles
The Falcons had some issues holding on the ball on Friday evening. Messiah committed 29 turnovers as a team, their most in a single game since a loss to Stevenson on Jan. 7, 2015.
 
Eight different Falcons had at least one turnover credited in their stat line, while four had at least four.
 
Quick Turnaround
The Falcons will have a quick turnaround as they complete the Gwynedd Mercy Tournament with a Championship Match against the host Griffins at 2:00 p.m. The Falcons will look to slow down a fast-paced Griffins' offense that has scored 103 and 109 points in their first two contests this season.