CHESTER, Pa. – On Wednesday evening, the Messiah University women's basketball team used a strong first half to defeat the Pride of Widener University, 73-62. The Falcons jumped out to a 28-20 lead after a high scoring first quarter. The Falcons outscored the Pride by eight in the second quarter to extend their lead to 47-31 at the half. The Pride looked to battle back and cut the deficit to 10 after outscoring the Falcons by six in the third. The Falcons outscored the Pride by one in the fourth to put the finishing touches on the 73-62 win. Chloe Milanesi led the Falcons with 21 points, seven rebounds, three steals, and one assist. Reese Harden totaled 20 points, five assists, one block, and one steal. Hope Cook also added 12 points, two rebounds, and two assists.
 
Up next, the Falcons return home on Saturday, Jan. 25 to take on the Eagles of Eastern University at 2:00 p.m.

First Quarter
After some back-and-forth scoring from both teams, the Falcons took a 9-6 lead after four Reese Harden free throws. After a Pride layup cut the Falcons lead to one, Hope Cook and Chloe Milanesi hit back-to-back threes to push the Falcons lead to 15-8 with just under four minutes remaining in the first. After the teams traded points in the next two minutes, the Falcons ended the first outscoring the Pride, 9-8 to give the Falcons a 28-20 lead at the end of the first. Hope Cook hit two threes, and Justine Forbes added a three for the Falcons during the final stretch of the first quarter.
 
Second Quarter
The Falcons opened the second quarter with an 8-0 run that pushed the Falcons lead to 36-20 with seven minutes remaining in the half. Reese Harden scored six points, and Chloe Milanesi added a basket for the Falcons during the run.  The two teams traded points in the next four minutes with Chloe Milanesi and EmmyFaith Wood scoring for the Falcons. The Pride then went on a 7-2 to reduce the Falcons lead to 42-31 with one minute remaining in the half. The Falcons closed out the half scoring the last five points with Hope Cook hitting her fourth three of the half and Raegan Fogarty adding a layup.
 
Third Quarter
The two teams traded baskets to open the third quarter with Chloe Milanesi scoring on a layup and EmmyFaith Wood on a jumper. The Pride though would not go down without a fight. Widener went on a 9-2 run to reduce the Falcons lead to 53-44 with three minutes remaining in the third. The Falcons outscored the Pride 8-7 in the final three minutes to take a 61-51 lead into the fourth. Chloe Milanesi scored all eight points for the Falcons during the final stretch of the third quarter.
 
Fourth Quarter
The two teams opened the fourth going back-and-forth on baskets as the Falcons lead remained at 10 with 5:33 remaining in the game. Liv Monturo led the Falcons during the beginning of the fourth with four points. The teams continued to trade baskets throughout the fourth, with the Falcons answering every comeback attempt from the Pride. Reese Harden led the Falcons with four points during the final stretch to give the Falcons a big 73-62 road win.
 
Stats
Chloe Milanesi led the Falcons with 21 points, seven rebounds, three steals, and one assist. Reese Harden totaled 20 points, five assists, one block, and one steal. Hope Cook also added 12 points, two rebounds, and two assists. EmmyFaith Wood added six points, three assists, and a steal. Liv Monturo also totaled five points, six rebounds, two blocks, and an assist. The Falcons shot 45.8 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from three. Pride shot 45.5 percent from the field and 20 percent from three. The Falcons offense was efficient with only seven turnovers on the evening. The Falcons defense though caused havoc, forcing 17 turnovers and scoring 12 points off those turnovers.
 
Next
The Falcons return home on Saturday, Jan. 25 to take on the Eagles of Eastern University at 2:00 p.m.