READING, Pa. – The Messiah women's basketball team earned a 56-41 victory over the Albright Lions on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons controlled the game from the start, outscoring the host Lions 16-3 in the first 10 minutes of the contest. While Albright got back into the game with a stronger second quarter, they did not have enough steam to complete a comeback. Messiah held a double-digit lead for the vast majority of the second half en route to the 15-point victory.
 
Reese Harden led the Falcons with 14 points while Megan Zimmerman finished with a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double. Morgan Adams also finished with double-digit points, scoring 12 in the game.
 
With the win, Messiah improves to 7-2 on the season and 3-0 in the conference. The Falcons will now head south to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. for the Cruzin' Classic next weekend. Messiah will take on Immaculata University at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 17 and Westminster College at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 18 in their final two games of 2022. Their next home game will come just after the New Year on Jan. 2 against Penn State Harrisburg.
 
How It Happened
As mentioned, the Falcons jumped out to a massive first-quarter lead. Messiah scored 14 of the game's first 15 points to take a 14-1 lead after seven-plus minutes of play. The Falcons and Lions traded buckets in the final minutes of the period and Messiah took a 16-3 lead after the opening period. Morgan Adams paced the Falcons in the early going, scoring eight points and assisting on another bucket in the opening period.
 
Albright did not go down quietly, ripping off a 14-3 run in the first 7:23 of the second quarter to trim Messiah's lead down to just two points at 19-17, following a pair of Gabby Boggs free throws. Messiah scored the final three points of the half on free throws and took a 22-17 lead into the locker room at halftime. Messiah was held to just one field goal in the second quarter, with Chloe Milanesi hitting a layup early in the period.
 
Messiah scored the first three buckets coming out of the locker room to bump their lead back to double digits at 28-17. From there it was smooth sailing for the Falcons. Albright's Gabby Boggs hit a jumper for two of her game-high 16 points on the next possession, but Messiah responded with an unassisted jumper from Amber High. The bucket from High made it a 30-19 lead for the Falcons. Messiah led by at least 10 points for the final 15 minutes of the game as they cruised to the 56-41 victory.
 
In the fourth quarter, Messiah's lead grew to as many as 17 points on two occasions. With under four minutes to play, Sidney Stutzman finished a layup to give Messiah a 50-33 lead. Then two minutes later, Reese Harden made a pair of free throws to bump the lead up to 17 again at 54-37. A Charlotte Milanesi layup in the final seconds ended the scoring as Messiah earned the comfortable victory.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action next weekend when they play in the Crusin' Classic in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. against the Immaculata Mighty Macs at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 17.