READING, Pa. – No. 8 Messiah (11-1, 5-0 MACC) pulled away in the second half in a 66-44 victory over the Albright Lions women's basketball team (4-7, 1-4 MACC) on Saturday afternoon at the Bollman Center in Reading.
The Falcons led by 15 at halftime and outscored Albright 18-11 in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 22 at 52-30 at the end of the three.
Following a layup from sophomore guard
Alli Marcus in the early stages of the third quarter that brought the Lions within 13 at 34-21, Messiah's Maci Thornton hit a three on the other end to start a 14-4 run over the next five plus minutes and the visitors led 48-25 with 3:44 left in the third quarter.
Marcus had a career-high 13 points to pace Albright, while freshman guard
Shaunna Bruker had 11 points and eight rebounds and classmate
Dejah Terrell added six points off the bench in her team debut.
Thornton paced Messiah with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, Eleana Eckley added 17 points of her own and senior forward Alecia Rohrer contributed eight points and 13 rebounds.
The Falcons scored seven of the first nine points before a 9-4 spurt from Albright capped by a
Gabby Boggs layup brought the hosts within a pair at 13-11 with 2:38 left in the first quarter. Messiah scored the final five points of the first quarter and outscored the Lions by a 16-8 margin in the second quarter to take a 34-19 lead into the locker room. Bruker hit a pair of free throws to make it a 26-17 game with 3:57 left in the first half before Kristen Smoluk hit a jumper on the other end to kickstart a 8-2 Falcon run heading into the break.
Albright shot 13-of-49 (26.5%) from the floor and 2-of-9 (22.2%) from beyond the arc, while Messiah was 25-of-62 (40.3%) from the field and 4-of-10 (40%) from deep. The Falcons held a slight 41-39 edge on the boards led by Rohrer's 13 rebounds. Bruker paced the Lions with eight rebounds and Boggs contributed seven.
The Lions head to Florida to compete in the St. Pete Classic and will battle FDU-Florham on Wednesday, Dec. 19 at 5 p.m.
