Grantham, PA - Messiah College went up 16-4 early against Arcadia University on Saturday, and broke the game wide open in the second-half en route to a 73-45 win. Senior Nicky Hess scored 16 points for the Falcons with classmate Dori Gyori pushing through an "off-night" from the field to finish with 14 points and nine rebounds.

Messiah and Arcadia combined for 48 fouls, with each team failing to establish smooth momentum throughout the night.  The Falcons' feisty defense forced a season-high 33 turnovers from the Knights (9-12, 2-12), of which Messiah turned into an impressive 29 points.

"We got it done on the defensive end on a night we did not get shots to go down," head coach Mike Miller said.  "Holding them to 21 points below their average is a great accomplishment."

The Falcons applied a lot of defensive pressure early in the first half, resulting in three Arcadia turnovers in the opening two minutes of play and numerous forced shots by the Knights.  Messiah took advantage of the early misfires, creating their own momentum by going on a 4-0 run and then a 6-0 scoring run in the first five minutes.

At the 14:46 mark, senior Kira Maier and sophomore Hannah Nichols combined for the one-two punch, helping the Falcons to a 10-2 lead.  After an Arcadia timeout, Maier found herself tightly defended at the top of the key, but was able to make a quick look and find Nichols, who finished the left-side layup and drew a foul on the play.  Although Nichols couldn't finish the three-point play, Maier was there to snatch the offensive rebound and restart the offense.  Junior Taylor Miller dribbled back to center and penetrated the defense, finding Maier on the right block, who squared up, faked left, and finished with the right hand for two points.

Throughout the first half, the Falcons struggled to find their outside shooting rhythm.  Relying on quick perimeter ball movement, Messiah was able to free-up the block and focus on their inside game, leading to 12 points in the paint.

Hess hit back-to-back layups with under five minutes in the half, but it was junior Chelsea Danel's jumper off of an in-bounds play that pushed the Falcons' lead to 13 points - their biggest lead of the half - with 4:15 to play.

Despite Arcadia's best efforts in the final minutes, the Knights took an 11 point deficit into halftime.

In the second half, Arcadia came out firing on all cylinders, blocking three shots in the first three minutes of play, but this didn't disturb the Falcons' inside game.  After Miller's jumper from the foul line opened scoring for the Falcons, their next twelve points would come from layups and free throws only. 

With 13:17 to play, Hess came up with a steal and pushed the ball forward to find sophomore Sienna Wisse sprinting into the paint for the fast-break layup.  After a turnover by the Falcons, Danel blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound, and pushed the ball forward yet again to Wisse for the layup and the foul.  Upon completing the three-point play, the Falcons led by 16 (42-26).

The second half proved to be quite physical, leading to 34 fouls being called.  As a result, both teams found themselves in the double-bonus with under eight minutes to play.  The Falcons, who made a season high 24 free throws on the night, shot 65.4% (17-for-26) in the half.  Maier (5-for-6) and Hess (4-for-5) led the team from the charity stripe.

With a little over five minutes to play, Nichols scored back-to-back layups, increasing the lead to 20. 

In the final minutes, the Falcons' defense proved to be too much for the Knights to handle.  Messiah converted four turnovers into nine points, taking the 73-45 victory.

"I was happy with how we took care of the basketball," Miller said.  "Just 12 turnovers is great, especially on a night when there was a lot of physical play on and off the ball."

Hess led all scorers with 16 points.  She went 6-for-10 from the field and had four steals.  Nichols came off the bench to add a season high 11 points and brought in four rebounds.

With the win, Messiah improves to 13-1 in the Commonwealth, and 19-2 overall.  The Falcons look to continue their conference dominance next Wednesday when they travel to Stevenson University.  They will take on the Mustangs at 6 p.m.