GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Albright women's basketball team fought hard for forty minutes in the 2020 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Commonwealth Championship game before falling to No. 18 Messiah 78-69 on Saturday evening.
 
Albright finished the MAC Commonwealth Tournament with an overall record of 22-5 and a conference record of 12-4.  Messiah improves to 23-4 on the season and 15-1 in conference play while winning its fourth-straight conference title.
 
On offense, sophomore Maggie O'Hare led the Lions with 24 points behind shooting 11-of-19 from the field and 2-of-8 from deep.  Classmate Dejah Terrell registered her 21^st double-double this season with 21 points and 11 rebounds.  Also recording a double-double was sophomore Gabby Boggs with 13 points and 14 rebounds with a game-high three blocks.  O'Hare, Boggs, and senior Hailey Dayton each tallied three assists in the game.
 
Albright took control of the first quarter after holding Messiah to just two points five minutes in.  The Lions registered three three-pointers in the opening minutes from Terrell, Dayton, and O'Hare, to lead the Falcons 13-2 at the 4:54-mark for its largest lead of the game of 11 points.  The final three minutes of the quarter concluded with an 18-11 Albright lead.  Albright shot 7-of-16 (43.8%) and Messiah went 5-of-13 (38.5%) from the floor in the first 10 minutes of the game.
 
The second quarter saw a 6-2 Messiah run by the 8:14-mark to drop its deficit to three points.  The Falcons tied the game at the 4:22-mark, 26-26, and again at the 2:57-mark, 28-28.  Messiah took the lead just before halftime and a good layup from Terrell made it a two-point game going into the locker rooms.  The Falcons outscored the Lions 23-14 in the quarter and shot 64.3 percent (9-of-14) to Albright's 50.0 percent (6-of-12) from the field.
 
Messiah scored the first basket of the half to put the Falcons up by four points before a three-pointer from Terrell closed the gap to one point.  Another three from Terrell at the 5:13-mark tied the game at 41 points apiece.  The Falcons closed the third quarter out on a 16-6 run to outscore the Lions 23-15 in the quarter.  The score going into the final 10 minutes of the game was 57-47 in favor of Messiah.
 
Albright initiated the scoring in the fourth quarter with a layup from Terrell and a rally from the Lions cut Messiah's lead to just one point with four minutes left.  Following a three-pointer from Dayton for a score of 61-60, the Falcons started on a 7-0 run for a lead of 67-60 with 3:25 on the clock.  With 2:45 to go, Boggs registered a good jumper to cut the lead to five.  Albright responded to each Messiah basket in the final minutes, but was unable to close the gap.  Messiah made three free throws in the final seconds of the game to increase its lead to nine points, for a final score of 78-69.
 
For Messiah, Leah Springer registered a game-high 27 points on shooting 12-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-3 from beyond the arc.  Eleana Eckley scored 18 points for the Falcons and Jayneisha Davis recorded 16 points, eight rebounds, and a game-high six assists.
 
Albright shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the field, 35.0 percent (7-of-20) from three, and 60.0 percent (6-of-10) from the line.  Messiah went 27-of-60 (45.0%) from the floor, 7-of-10 (70.0%) from beyond the arc, and 17-of-24 (70.8%) on free throws.  The Lions scored 26 points in the paint and 16 points off of 12 Falcon turnovers, while Messiah scored 24 points off 19 Albright turnovers and added 14 fast-break points.
 
The Albright women's basketball team will await potential postseason opportunities.