OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The No. 25 Messiah women's basketball team earned a 67-47 victory over the Stevenson Mustangs in a MAC Commonwealth contest on Wednesday night. The Falcons shot 54.0% from the floor, knocking down 27 of their 50 attempts on the evening. Reese Harden led all scorers with 16 points while Megan Zimmerman finished the night with a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double.
 
Messiah built a 20-point lead in the first half alone, taking a 41-21 lead into the break. The early lead allowed the Falcons to cruise in for their eighth conference victory to begin the MAC Commonwealth slate. The Falcons are now winners of a dozen-straight games and hold an overall record of 15-2 and a perfect 8-0 record in the conference. Messiah will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host the Widener Pride at 4:00 p.m. on Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena.
 
How It Happened
Messiah started Wednesday night's game with a quick 4-0 lead with buckets from Reese Harden and Morgan Adams, however the Mustangs took a 5-4 lead just over four minutes into the contest. The Falcons responded quickly with a jumper from Chloe Milanesi on the very next possession. That bucket jump-started a 14-3 Messiah run over the final 5:14 of the opening quarter. The result was an 18-8 Falcons lead after 10 minutes of play.
 
The second quarter offered much of the same. The Falcons and Mustangs played a relatively even first five minutes of the period, but Messiah bolted ahead in the second half of the stanza. In the second period, Messiah was outscored 10-11 over the first six minutes of the quarter, but rallied down the stretch, going on a 13-2 run in the final 3:36 of the half, to take a 41-21 lead into the break. Haley Wagman capped off the run with back-to-back threes in the final 40 seconds of the half, including one right before the horn sounded.
 
Messiah's lead ballooned to as many as 24 points midway through the third, following a Reese Harden jumper with 4:23 remaining in the period. The jumper made it a 49-25 lead for the Falcons. Over the final few minutes of the third, Stevenson hit a trio of three pointers to cut Messiah's lead to 17 points at the end of the period, 53-36.
 
That was as close as the Mustangs would get until the final minutes of play when they cut the lead down to 16 points at 63-47. The Falcons would connect on the final two buckets of the contest and earn the 67-47 victory to improve to 15-2 on the season.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will put their 12-game winning streak on the line when they host the Widener Pride on Saturday evening at 4:00 p.m. on Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena. The Pride enter Saturday's tilt with a 5-12 overall record and a 2-6 mark in the conference.