Grantham, PA - For the second-straight season and fourth time in the past five years, Messiah women's basketball is heading to the Second Round of the NCAA Championships Tournament. The Falcons advanced to Saturday's game with an 84-51 win over Lancaster Bible on Friday.
 
Kira Maier led the Falcons with 17 points, with Dori Gyori and Taylor Miller adding 16 points and 15 points, respectively. Gyori also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
 
Messiah stormed out of the gate against the Chargers, with Taylor Miller hitting three-pointers on each of the Falcons' first two possessions. Dori Gyori scored on a high-low post feed on Messiah's next opportunity, giving them an 8-0 lead.
 
Undeterred by the roaring crowd, Lancaster Bible responded with their own 8-0 run behind two three-pointers from senior Lauren Heliger. The teams would battle back-and-forth over the next few minutes, with a jumper by Richelle Kane bringing the Chargers to within 17-16 with 11:36 left in the first-half.
 
At that point, the Falcons began to create space. A two-point jumper by Miller put Messiah up 19-16, with a three-pointer off a skip pass from Gyori giving the Falcons a 22-16 lead soon after. The buckets would be the start of a 17-4 run for Messiah, as they would eventually go into the half up 40-24.
 
"Our defense really picked it up in that stretch," said Messiah head coach Mike Miller. "I thought our first unit needed to be better at the start, and we had our subs come in and step it up for us. Jordan Seiz was great tonight, and we really got going off her energy."
 
To Miller's point, the Falcons' defense forced 15 turnovers through the first twenty minutes, while team play and sharp ball movement aided the Falcons' 43.8% shooting before the break.
 
Maier led all scorers at the half with nine points, with Messiah's Miller and LBC's Folder and Heliger each with eight points. Gyori had a quiet first-half (five points), as two fouls forced her to the bench while Messiah was building their lead.
 
As the second-half got underway, Messiah continued to build their lead. They went on a 20-4 run to take a 60-28 lead, with Gyori and Miller combining for 16 of those points.  Miller's third three-pointer of the night capped the run, as she trailed the fastbreak for an open spot-up. 

While Messiah was building their advantage, the Chargers were struggling to hit shots. With three players averaging over thirty minutes per game—and another just under the same mark—they seemed overwhelmed at times by the Messiah pressure, with the Falcons finishing the night with 18 steals.
 
"Part of what we can do really well is force teams to be uncomfortable," Miller said. "We started to put pressure on them all over the court, and it started to wear them down. They don't have the depth of some other teams, and we were able to take advantage of that."
 
Heliger, who had scored eight points in the first seven-plus minutes of the first-half, was held scoreless until less than nine minutes remained. When she finally hit another jumper, the score was 66-35 in favor of Messiah.
 
As they did before the break, Messiah forced another 15 turnovers in the second-half—a season-high for the Chargers. Messiah committed just 12 turnovers on their end, while collected 22 assists on 33 made field-goals.
 
When the final horn sounded Messiah had thirteen players with at least two points, providing valuable experience for their younger players and valuable rest for their veterans.
 
"We were excited to give our entire team a chance to get out there and compete," Miller said. "This past week, especially, our younger players have really turned a corner. That's great for their futures, and getting them on the court also gave us a chance to save some legs for tomorrow."
 
Aubrey Folger, the Northeastern Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, led LBC with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Heliger finished with 14 points, and finishes her career with the Chargers with 1,516 total points. The loss ends the Chargers' season at 24-5.
 
With the win, Messiah moves to 24-4 and will host William Paterson University on Saturday. The Second Round game is set to tip-off at 6:00 p.m.