READING, Pa. – Trailing by one at halftime, the Albright Lions women's basketball team outscored #17/#19 ranked Messiah 37-27 in the second half to earn an upset win in MAC Commonwealth play by a score of 63-54.
 
With the win, the Lions improve to 11-5 overall and move into a first-place tie with the Falcons with a 6-1 record in MAC Commonwealth play. Meanwhile, the Falcons see their five-game winning streak come to an end as they drop to 14-2 overall with a 6-1 record in conference play. This was the first meeting between the two teams since last season's MAC Commonwealth Championship Game and the second win this season over a nationally-ranked team for the Lions after they beat Tufts who was No.1 at the time in the D3Hoops.com poll.
 
Senior Alysha Lofton led all scorers on the floor with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Lofton also added eight rebounds, five assists, and two blocks in the win. Classmate Nina Mazzarelli added 13 points on 5-of-9 from the field along with five rebounds and two steals, and Devan Horka nearly tallied a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds in the win.
 
After Messiah hit the first basket of the game, the Lions came back with five straight points to take a 5-2 lead at the 7:44-mark of the first quarter. Leading 9-8, the Lions then used an 11-4 run to take a 20-12 lead at the 1:14-mark before closing out the quarter by leading 22-14. Sophomore Zaria Mohamed gave the Lions a 24-14 advantage to start the second quarter, but it was all Falcons for the majority of the quarter  as they outscored the Lions 13-2 down the stretch to take a 27-26 lead into halftime. Mohamed scored all four points for the Lions in the quarter as they had 15 first half turnovers and went 2-of-9 from the field in the final 10 minutes of the first half.
 
The teams traded quick runs for the first half of the third quarter with each team not being able to extend its lead over three during that span. Messiah led 35-34 at the 5:31-mark of the third quarter before the Lions rattled off 10 straight points and took a 44-37 lead heading into the fourth. Albright held Messiah without a field goal for nearly five and a half minutes during the 10-0 run. The Lions began the fourth quarter with back-to-back baskets to take a 48-37 lead with 8:41 left in the game and would take a 12 point lead with 5:02 left after the Falcons had cut the lead down to seven. Albright would not let the lead get under eight for the rest of the game as they went 5-of-7 from the free throw line to close out the win. The Lions forced 10 Falcon turnovers in the second half after only forcing two in the first half.
 
The Lions shot 46.2 percent (24-of-52) from the field and went 2-of-5 (40.0%) from beyond the arc. Albright went 13-of-17 (76.5%) from the free throw line and held a dominant 45-31 rebounding advantage for the game, while outscoring Messiah 40-22 in the paint. The Falcons shot 30.9 percent (21-of-68) from the field after going 9-of-31 (29%) in the second half. Messiah went 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from beyond the arc and 8-of-10 (80%) from the free throw stripe.
 
Alecia Rohrer led the Falcons with a team-high 15 points and was held to just five rebounds after tallying 18 in the previous game. The Lions also held Leah Springer, the leading scorer in the conference, to just 10 points on the afternoon.
 
Albright will return to action on Wednesday, January 17^th, when they will travel to face cross-town rival Alvernia for an 8 p.m. tip-off.