GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Albright Lions women's basketball team (11-12, 6-8 MACC) dropped a road contest to the #6 Messiah Falcons (23-1, 15-0 MACC) by a score of 74-47 on Saturday afternoon at Hitchcock Arena in Grantham.
The Lions currently trail Arcadia by one game for the fifth and final playoff spot in the MAC Commonwealth standings.
Freshman
Gabby Boggs had 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting to pace the Lions, while classmate
Dejah Terrell came through with 12 points and
Amina Rauf had seven off the bench.
Maci Thornton made five threes en route to a game-high 25 points for Messiah, while Becca Isaac had 12 points and Eleana Eckley chipped in with nine off the bench.
Albright grabbed an early 9-5 lead after Terrell's jumper with 4:40 to play in the first quarter, but the Falcons closed the opening stanza on an 11-2 run and a late bucket from Megan Zimmerman gave the hosts a 16-11 edge after one. Boggs' layup with 7:00 left in the half cut the lead to 11 at 24-13 before the Falcons scored seven of the next nine points and a layup in the final minute of the half from Gracie Crygan gave Messiah a 35-19 edge heading into the locker room.
A layup from
Abby Gaffney in the opening minute of the third quarter cut the lead back to 16 at 37-21, but that was the closest the Lions would get the rest of the way. A late three pointer from the Falcons' Haley Maraday made it a 55-32 game after three quarters. Boggs scored six straight points in the early stages of the fourth quarter followed by a layup from freshman
Brady Wassel that cut the lead to 18 at 58-40 with 6:09 to play. Rauf also scored five of her seven points in the final stanza for the Lions.
The Lions shot 18-of-47 (38.3%) from the field, 2-of-4 (50%) from beyond the arc and 9-of-12 (75%) from the charity stripe, while Messiah connected on 26-of-56 (46.4%) from the field, 10-of-23 (43.5%) from deep and 12-of-17 (70.6%) from the free throw line.
Albright held a slight 33-32 edge on the boards led by four rebounds apiece from Rauf, Terrell and junior
Zaria Mohamed.
Head coach
Janice Luck's squad returns to action on Tuesday, Feb. 12 when they hit the road to battle crosstown rival Alvernia at 6 p.m.