Grantham, PA – The Falcons of Messiah College defeated rival Elizabethtown on Wednesday night 58-48, as they rode a career-high 26 points from Dori Gyori into a Commonwealth Championship showdown with Lebanon Valley this weekend.
 
The win for Messiah avenges a loss to Etown from mid-January, the lone defeat for Messiah on their home court this season. On Wednesday, the Falcons took a 29-21 lead at the half—the same advantage they carried in the aforementioned loss to Etown—and held off the Blue Jays for the win.
 
"We had more energy and purpose tonight," head coach Mike Miller said, comparing his team's play on Wednesday to the last time the two teams faced each other. "Our girls really executed our scouting report, and we were really good in a number of areas."
 
The Falcons and Blue Jays got off to a sloppy start in the game, with a combined five turnovers in the first three minutes of play. But Messiah soon recovered, with Gyori scoring eight of the Falcons' first eleven points as they went ahead 11-8.
 
A few minutes later, Nicky Hess hit a three-pointer to give Messiah an 18-10 lead.
 
"I wasn't happy with our early turnovers," Miller said, reflecting on what would be 14 first-half giveaways. "When we weren't turning the ball over, we were getting good looks."
 
With Gyori forcing the Blue Jays to dig in from the perimeter, Hess, Chelsea Danel, and Taylor Miller made good on their shots from deep; Danel and Miller hit three's on back-to-back possessions to give Messiah a 26-18 lead with 4:26 before the half.
 
Miller's three-pointer came after an offensive rebound by Jordan Seiz, with her kick-out going to Miller on the right wing for the open shot.
 
"The problem (when you're matching up) is that they have such great perimeter shooters," said Etown head coach Sherri Gorman about the Blue Jays' defensive approach. "We couldn't mix it up too much (with our double-teams), and we had to play more one-on-one. When we did leave them open, they hit their shots."
 
Gyori led all scorers at the half with 12 points on six of nine shooting. The Falcons also had four made three-pointers, demonstrating their balanced inside-outside approach.
 
In the second-half, Gyori and the Falcons would quickly push their lead into double-figures. Kira Maier finished a putback off her own miss for a 39-25 lead with 15:45 left, with Nicky Hess soon following with a three-pointer off ball reversal for a 17-point advantage. After Kendra Beittel scored in the paint for the Blue Jays, Danel drove and kicked out to Miller on the left side for another three-pointer and a 45-27 lead.
 
The 16-6 run for the Falcons was the product of both good shooting (seven of 10 shooting) and effective defense.

"We didn't give up penetration, and we limited their outside looks," Miller said. "That was a big stretch for us."
 
Down by a substantial margin, Etown fought back. They went on an 11-2 run to close to within 49-40 with 5:44 left in the game. Their run was keyed by six points from Beittel.
 
"When you're the front-runner, you're supposed to win," Miller said. "So when they went on a run, it zapped our energy a bit. We had to regroup, and we showed we were ready to play."
 
After a timeout, Messiah quickly got back on track by way of a strong defensive rebound by Maier and a transition score by Hess. Gyori followed on the Falcons' next possession with a score off a high-low pass from Maier, as Messiah kept their lead late for the victory.
 
Gyori finished with 26 points, tying her career-high set last year in a win over Alvernia.
 
"Dori was great in a 'great moment' tonight," Miller said. "It's a real confidence-builder for her and our team."
 
"She's a phenomenal player," Gorman said, also speaking about Gyori. "She's led that team, and we have to give her credit. They had a good game plan to get her the ball, and they did just that."
 
Danel added 10 points for Messiah, with Miller (nine points) and Hess (eight points) combining with Danel to go six of 18 from three-point range. Maier scored five points and collected a team-high 12 rebounds.
 
Etown (15-11) was led by the 15 points of Taylor Kreider, as the junior forward also finished with a game-high 17 rebounds. Beittel finished with 14 points.
 
The win for Messiah—ranked No. 15 in the most recent ESPN/USA Today Top 25 Poll and No. 13 in the most recent D3Hoops.com Top 25 Poll—moves them to 23-3 on the season. They will face rival Lebanon Valley College on Saturday for the Commonwealth Championship.
 
The Dutchmen defeated Widener University on Wednesday on the Pride's home floor by the score of 68-56.
 
Game time on Saturday is set for 3:00 p.m. in Brubaker Auditorium.