GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Arcadia University women's basketball team recorded its first-ever victory over Messiah College Tuesday night, defeating the Falcons 72-67. Both teams now stand at 12-12 overall and are tied for third in the Commonwealth Conference standings at 8-7.
 
The Knights, victory combined with Lycoming College's 64-38 loss to first-place Stevenson University clinched, Arcadia's first-ever Commonwealth Conference Championship Tournament berth since joining the league in 2008-09. It's just the Knights' second postseason appearance since becoming a NCAA Division III program in 1993-04; the first was qualifying for the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Championship in 1998-99.
 
It was a two-possession game the entire first half, with Arcadia holding a 30-25 lead after a basket from sophomore Imani Alston with just over two minutes left in the period, but sophomore Gillian Glackin came up with two straight scores  for Messiah that the Knights' lead to just one at the break.
 
Arcadia took control of the game with a 12-3 run over the opening five minutes of the second half that was capped by a jumper from junior Valerie DiMuro to give the Knights a 42-32 lead. That lead grew to as many as 14 after junior Addy Crenny made a layup as she was fouled and converted the free throw that followed to put Arcadia up 53-39 with 12 minutes to go.
 
The Falcons didn't go away quietly, gradually chipping away at Arcadia's advantage and eventually cutting their deficit to one after junior Dominique Seamon drained a three that made it 63-62 with 2:19 left the game. Alston answered by banking a shot in off the glass on the possession that followed and junior Maureen Fiocca's three just over a minute later gave the Knights a six-point cushion, 68-62 with just under a minute to go.
 
Fiocca extended Arcadia's lead to eight after hitting both ends of a 1 and 1 with 24 seconds left, but a three from Seamon and a layup from freshman Kaitlyn Hoff after Fiocca missed the front end of another 1 and 1 dropped the Knights lead to 70-67 with five seconds remaining. Fiocca was send to the line one more time and sank both free throws to seal the win for Arcadia.
 
Fiocca scored a game-high 22 points for the Knights, while DiMuro fell just shy of a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds. Senior Megan Fox also netted 15 points to go with seven boards and a game-high eight assists, while junior Addy Crenny chipped in with 11 points and a game-high 13 rebounds while being saddled with foul trouble for most of the game. She now has a conference-best and school-record 19 double-doubles this season, and entered the night with the third-highest total in the nation.
 
Hoff also poured in a game-high22 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field to go with five rebounds and five assists to lead Messiah, while Glackin finished with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists. Seamon also finished in double figures with 12 points.

The Knights 12 overall victories so far this season are the second-most in program history, while their eight conference wins are tied for the most in a single-season. In fact, Arcadia won just eight combined conference games heading into this season since joining the Commonwealth Conference in 2008-09. Arcadia also won 12 games while going 12-13 in 2005-06, and set the program record for wins in 1997-98 after going 16-8. The Knights also won eight conference contests in 1997-98 and 1998-99. 

Arcadia will close out the 2014-15 regular season with a 1 p.m. Commonwealth Conference matchup at Widener University.