GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's basketball team suffered a tough loss in the MAC Commonwealth championship game to Messiah by a score of 62-54 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The loss drops the Lions to 20-7 overall as they fell in the conference championship game to the Falcons for the second straight season. Meanwhile, the Falcons improve to 25-2 overall and earn the MAC Commonwealth's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
 
Despite the loss, senior Alysha Lofton hit 1,000 points for her collegiate career between Albright and her freshman year at Division II West Chester after leading all scorers on the floor with 20 points. Lofton, the MAC Commonwealth player of the year, added five rebounds along with three steals and two blocks. Classmates Nina Mazzarelli and Devan Horka each posted 10 points, while Jane Joyce grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.
 
After Messiah opened the game with a three-pointer, the Lions ran off seven straight points to take a 7-3 lead at the 7:56-mark of the first quarter. Behind strong defense, Albright did not let up the lead during the rest of the first quarter as they worked their way out to a 17-10 advantage. The Lions extended their lead out to its largest of the game at 21-10 with 7:30 left in the first half as they held the Falcons without a point for 4:54 minutes of action. However, Messiah broke the scoreless drought in part of a 19-3 run that gave the Falcons a 29-24 lead with 55 seconds left in the half. Lofton would cut the Falcons lead to 29-26 at halftime following a pair of free throws in the final minute.
 
The teams traded points in the first five minutes of the second half before the Lions regained the lead at 38-37 after junior MiKayla Lea hit back-to-back three-pointers. Messiah was able to regain the lead at the end of the third quarter at 42-40 after scoring the final three points of the quarter. The game became deadlocked at 44 after a layup from Horka with 8:42 left in the game, but a three-point play from the Falcons two possessions later would give Messiah the lead at 47-44. The Falcons would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game despite a valiant effort from the Lions. Albright got back within four points with 2:44 left in the game after the Falcons grabbed an eight point lead at the 3:36-mark, but Messiah went 4-of-4 from the free throw line to close out the game. Lofton scored the Lions final six points to hit the 1,000-point mark exactly with eight seconds left in the game.
 
Albright shot 37.3 percent (19-of-51) from the field for the game and 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from beyond the arc. The Lions went 12-of-13 (92.3%) from the free throw line, but had 23 turnovers which led to 19 Messiah points. Meanwhile, the Falcons shot just 33.3 percent (21-of-63) from the field, but went a solid 17-of-19 from the free throw line that included going 14-of-15 in the second half. Messiah also held a slight 38-36 advantage in rebounds.
 
Alecia Rohrer led Messiah with a double-double behind 14 points and 14 rebounds to earn Tournament MVP honors. Kaitlyn Hoff added 13 points behind a perfect 9-of-9 in free throw attempts, and Leah Springer posted 12 points off the bench in the win.
 
The Lions will now await their postseason fate on Monday when the NCAA Division III selection show airs at 2:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.