GRANTHAM, Pa. - The top-seeded Messiah University women's basketball team will open the MAC Commonwealth Tournament on Wednesday night when they host the fourth-seeded Alvernia University Golden Wolves. The Falcons host Alvernia on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 p.m. in Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena. The Falcons and Golden Wolves matchup will come in the Conference Semifinals with a trip to the MAC Commonwealth Championship on the line.
Second-seeded Widener University Pride will host the York Spartans in the other semifinal game on Wednesday night, with the winner's meeting in the MAC Commonwealth Championship game on Saturday, hosted by the highest seed.
Messiah will be looking for their 16 Conference Championship in program history and their eighth straight since the 2016-17 season. The Falcons have appeared in 29 conference tournaments in their program history and have made 15 conference championships, all coming under head coach
Mike Miller.
Fans should note that since this is a Middle Atlantic Conference Postseason Tournament, tickets are required for all fans. The pricing for tickets are as follows: General Admission: $8, Senior Citizens: $6, Children 7-17: $6, and Children under 6: FREE. All MAC students with a valid ID will be free.
See below for a quick preview of the four teams competing in the MAC Commonwealth Conference Tournament
No. 1 Messiah Falcons
The Falcons enter their 29th conference tournament appearance in program history with a 21-4 overall record, with a 13-1 record in MAC Commonwealth play. The Falcons enter the tournament on a three-game winning streak, with a comeback win over Eastern University on Saturday, Feb. 17 to close out the regular season. The Falcons finished the season 10-1 at Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena with their only loss coming to DeSales on Dec. 6.
The Falcons offense enters the tournament ranked fourth in scoring, but the Falcons have the top field goal percentage (41.6%) in the MAC Commonwealth. The Falcons have the top defense in the MAC Commonwealth, allowing only 52.0 points per-game. Messiah also leads the conference with a 4.81 turnover margin, with the defense leading the conference with 19.6 turnovers caused per-game.
Players to Watch
#13
Morgan Adams – 17.3 PPG, 50.3 FG%, 7.7 REB/G, 41 steals, 37 blocks, 35 assists
#25
Reese Harden – 15,6 PPG, 44.9 FG%, 3.2 REB/G, 76 assists, 36 steals, 14 blocks
#20
Chloe Milanesi – 9.3 PPG, 40.1 FG%, 6.1 REB/G, 49 steals, 47 assists, 13 blocks
#1
Charlotte Milanesi – 5.6 PPG, 43.7 FG%, 3.4 REB/G, 74 assists, 61 steals, 5 blocks
#23
Liv Monturo – 5.4 PPG, 39.6 FG%, 4.2 REB/G, 13 assists, 9 steals, 7 blocks
#15
Sydney Hoffman – 3.3 PPG, 35.2 FG%, 2.9 REB/G, 33 assists, 23 steals, 6 blocks
No. 4 Alvernia University Golden Wolves
The fourth-seeded Alvernia University women's basketball team enters the MAC Commonwealth Conference Tournament with a 15-10 overall record and a 7-7 record in MAC Commonwealth play. The Golden Wolves earned a trip to the conference tournament with a big win over Stevenson University in the regular season finale. The Golden Wolves were strong at home with an 8-3 record but finished the season 7-7 in road/neutral games.
The Golden Wolves finished as the second-best scoring offense in the MAC Commonwealth with 66.8 points per-game on the season. Alvernia finished the season with the fifth-ranked scoring defense, though, allowing 60.0 points per-game. Alvernia finished right behind the Falcons in turnover margin, with a 3.36 turnover margin, while forcing 18.6 turnovers per-game.
Players to Watch
#22 Kayla Williams – 14.3 PPG, 42.8 FG%, 7.5 REB/G, 76 assists, 68 blocks, 30 steals
#11 Jordan Karmonick – 10.8 PPG, 39.3 FG%, 7.2 REB/G, 100 assists, 53 steals, 2 blocks
#3 Tamia Wesseis – 10.7 PPG, 33.7 FG%, 5.7 REB/G, 69 assists, 47 steals
#2 Taliyah Malone – 10.4 PPG, 32.2 FG%, 3.2 REB/G, 48 assists, 48 steals
#1 Kylie Bradford – 4.1 PPG, 48.8 FG%, 2.5 REB/G, 20 steals, 10 assists
This Season Against Messiah
The Golden Wolves and Falcons matched up twice this season with the Falcons winning both games. The Falcons defeated the Golden Wolves, 79-57 at Alvernia and then 81-56 at Messiah. In the two games against Alvernia,
Reese Harden led the Falcons with 35 points combined in the two games.
No. 2 Widener University Pride
The second-seeded Widener University women's basketball team enters the MAC Commonwealth tournament with a 21-4 overall record and a 11-3 record in MAC Commonwealth play. The Pride enter the tournament on fire with an eight-game winning streak. The Pride are 7-3 at home this season but have performed better on the road with a 14-1 record in away/neutral games.
The Pride finished the season with the top-ranked scoring offense in the MAC Commonwealth with 68.4 points per-game. The Pride also have the third-ranked defense, allowing 56.1 points per-game. The Pride finished fourth in the MAC Commonwealth with a -0.52 turnover differential, with 16.6 turnovers caused per game.
Players to Watch
#15 Jordan D'Ambrosio – 17.4 PPG, 47.3 FG%, 4.4 REB/G, 73 assists, 43 steals, 22 blocks
#32 Mia Robbins – 14.2 PPG, 48.6 FG%, 8.8 REB/G, 23 assists, 17 steals, 10 blocks
#11 Mary McFillin – 7.7 PPG, 40.7 FG%, 3.8 REB/G, 54 assists, 27 steals, 27 blocks
#3 Lindsay Kutz – 6.8 PPG, 46.2 FG%, 6.6 REB/G, 42 assists, 25 steals, 17 blocks
#21 Gianna Samuels – 6.4 PPG, 32.5 FG%, 3.1 REB/G, 51 assists, 25 steals
This Season Against Messiah
The Falcons and the Pride split the season matchups with each team winning the game at home. The Falcons cruised to a 75-64 win over Widener in the first matchup with
Morgan Adams leading the Falcons with 28 points. In the second matchup, the Pride defeated the Falcons, 56-50 at Widener and
Reese Harden led the Falcons with 18 points in the game.
No. 3 York Spartans
The third-seeded York Spartans enter the MAC Commonwealth Conference Tournament with a 15-10 overall record and an 8-6 record in MAC Commonwealth play. The Spartans enter the tournament with a 3-5 record in their last eight games, but they are coming off of a win over Hood College in the final game of the regular season. The Spartans have been strong on the road this season with a 10-5 record.
The Spartans enter the tournament with the third-best scoring offense in the MAC Commonwealth with 63.2 points per-game. The Spartan's defense is fourth in the MAC Commonwealth, allowing 58.8 points per-game. The Spartans also rank third with a 0.88 turnover differential with 17.8 turnovers caused per game.
Players to Watch
#21 Breana Grim – 12.0 PPG, 41.1 FG%, 3.7 REB/G, 106 assists, 57 steals, 17 blocks
#14 Taylor Burda – 11.8 PPG, 31.9 FG%, 4.5 REB/G, 31 assists, 27 steals
#15 Alyssa Hocker – 11.8 PPG, 39.5 FG%, 9.3 REB/G, 41 assists, 31 steals
#35 Makenna Zimmerman – 8.5 PPG, 39.2 FG%, 5.7 REB/G, 36 blocks, 21 assists, 11 steals
#22 Brookln Naylor - 3.6 PPG, 42.7 FG%, 4.7 REB/G, 35 blocks, 30 assists, 17 steals
This Season Against Messiah
The Falcons swept the Spartans in the two matchups this season. The Falcons defeated the Spartans 74-62 at home and 52-39 at York. In the first matchup,
Morgan Adams dominated with 30 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Falcons. Adams again led the Falcons in the second matchup scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
