Falcons Pressure Knights into Season Low Shooting Effort

Box Score GRANTHAM, Pa.: The Messiah College Falcons held visiting Arcadia University to a season-low 21% shooting and season high 36 turnovers en-route to their ninth straight victory, a lopsided 81-34 win over the Knights in this evening's Commonwealth Conference women's basketball game.

The Falcons' pressure defense led to their control of the offense from the early going, taking an 11-0 lead before Arcadia's Angie Adams' baseline layup at 16:32 finally put the Knights on the board. But the Knight's 7th turnover of the game led to a nice give-and-go fast break bucket for Messiah before using a three pointer from Taylor Miller on their next possession to take a commanding 18-2 lead with 14:45 remaining in the half. Miller finished the half with 10 points.

Able to manage some points at the free throw line, where the Knights finished the half shooting 84.6%, Arcadia again had trouble hanging onto the ball, and gave up two straight turnovers to the Falcons for fastbreaks and a 25-6 lead for the home team. A three pointer from the left side from Michaela Holleran was a hopeful spark for the Knights with 7:08 to go in the half with Messiah up 31-11. Another three-ball, this one from Christine Taylor at 2:25 made it a 39-19 Falcons advantage but Messiah never let their foot off the accelator and closed the first half up 22, 43-21.

Arcadia allowed 19 turnovers that Messiah converted into 29 points in the opening twenty and also gave up ten points on the Falcon's 9 offensive rebounds. Arcadia hit just 22% from the floor in the opening half while Messiah connected on 42.1%.

The Knights were never able to find their rhythm on the offensive end, as the Falcons replicated their first half intensity in the second stanza and took advantage of the Knight's sluggish start to the half. The Knights were held without a field goal for nearly the entire second half, finally getting a two pointer from Victoria Mazzeo with 1:51 to play in the game. Mazzeo added another with :35 seconds to go and dished off to Jenna Crothers for two in the paint with :11 seconds remaining.

Arcadia ended the night shooting just 21.2% from the floor, and saw their free-throw production drop from the first half, finishing 66.7% at the stripe. The Falcons hit for 46.5% from the floor and 80% at the line. 16 of the Falcons game high 39 rebounds were on the offensive glass. Arcadia finished with 23 rebounds.

The season-low 34 points scored for Arcadia came mainly from Taylor's 9 points, Mazzeo's 6, with Adams and Jackie Law each scoring 5 points. Today was the second straight game for the Falcons holding a league opponent to 34 points. The Falcons (14-3, 5-1 CC) were led by Katie Vanderhoff's 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals. Dori Gyori scored 17 points, pulled down 7 rebounds and added 3 steals. Miller finished with 10 while Nicky Hess scored 7 points, brought down 5 boards, made 2 steals and dished out 5 assists.

The Knights (3-13, 0-6 CC) move on to prepare for Commonwealth Conference opponent Albright College (4-13, 0-6), looking to snap a five-game losing spurt when they take on the Lions this Wednesday at home, Jan. 25 with a 6 p.m. tip-off. Both teams will be looking for their first league victory of the season.

Print Friendly Version