ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Messiah women's basketball team opened the 2022-23 season with a tight, 48-47 victory over the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays on Friday afternoon. The win advanced the Falcons to the Championship Game of the University of Rochester Tip-Off Tournament on Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m.
Friday's game went down to the wire with the Blue Jays having an opening look at the buzzer to try and win the game. Macie Feldman's jumper from the right side rattled off the back iron as the Falcons escaped with a season opening victory.
As mentioned, Messiah will wrap up their weekend trip to Rochester, N.Y. in the Rochester Tip-Off Tournament Championship Game against the winner of University of Rochester and University of Texas – Dallas. The game will be played tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m.
Tight Start
Messiah and Johns Hopkins played a tight opening quarter with the Blue Jays holding a 16-13 lead after 10 minutes of play. The Blue Jays' Michaela O'Neil was a big piece of the early lead, scoring nine points in the first quarter.
Messiah battled back in the second, buckling down on defense and allowing just one made field goal in the second period. Johns Hopkins went 1-8 from the field in the period and scored just five points. The Falcons went 5-16 from the field in the period and scored 13 points, building a 26-21 lead at the break.
Faith Grula led the charge for the Falcons, scoring five of Messiah's 13 points in the second quarter.
Even Third Quarter
The third quarter was a period of runs. Messiah led by as many as seven points early in the quarter after
Chloe Milanesi knocked down a jumper with 6:39 remaining in the period. The jumper gave Messiah a 30-23 lead, but the Blue Jays responded with eight-straight points over the next two-plus minutes to take the lead at 31-30.
Messiah ended the period on an 8-2 run to take the lead back up to five at 38-33.
Megan Zimmerman,
Morgan Adams,
Sidney Stutzman, and
Reese Harden each made jumpers in the final four minutes of the period.
Cold Stretch
The Falcons and Blue Jays traded buckets through the first three minutes of the fourth quarter. Following an
Amber High free throw with 6:26 remaining in regulation, Messiah held a 44-37 lead. However, that High free throw started a four-minute scoreless stretch for the Falcons. During Messiah's cold streak, Johns Hopkins scored eight-straight points to take a 45-44 lead with under two minutes to play.
It was
Reese Harden that snapped stretch with 1:19, making a jumper to give Messiah the lead back at 46-44 with 1:19 remaining in the game. With 24 seconds remaining,
Faith Grula knocked down a pair of free throws to bump Messiah's lead to three at 48-45. The Blue Jays were then fouled on a potential game-tying three pointer. After two for the three free throws were made by Johns Hopkins, Messiah was fouled. With the Falcosn lead 48-47 with 13 seconds to play, Messiah missed the first free throw and committed a lane violation to give the ball back to the Blue Jays with a one-point lead.
Johns Hopkins missed an initial attempt with Michaela O'Neil going down the middle of the lane, but the Blue Jays grabbed their own rebound and called timeout. With three seconds on the clock, Macie Feldman had a quality look from the right elbow extended, but her jumper missed as the clock expired.
The result was a 48-47 Messiah victory to open the new season.
Chloe Milanesi led the Falcons with 11 points and seven rebounds.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will compete in the Rochester Tip-Off Tournament Championship Game on Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. against the Rochester Yellow Jackets or the UT-Dallas Comets.