Grantham, PA - On an evening when head coach Mike Miller was honored for reaching his 500th career win, the Falcons were poised to earn another victory for Messiah College.  And that they did.  The Falcons used an 18-0 and 16-0 scoring surge to hold off Hood College and take a 36-15 lead into halftime.  The second half saw more balanced scoring between the two teams, yet Messiah's fast-paced transition game was too much for the Blazers (4-12, 2-7).  The Falcons pushed forward for the 71-43 win.

Senior Dori Gyori led all scorers with 20 points and brought down 10 rebounds - her eighth double-double of the season. Classmate Nicky Hess added 12 points and junior Chelsea Danel contributed 11.

The win moved the No. 5 ranked - in both the most recent ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Top 25 Poll and the D3Hoops.com Top 25 Poll - Falcons to 10-0 in the conference and 16-1 overall.

Messiah started out slow, though, failing to score on their first three possessions.  After falling behind 4-0, senior Kira Maier came up big for the Falcons, grabbing offensive rebounds to extend Messiah's next three possessions.  Her efforts helped the Falcons score six points and take a 6-4 lead.

"Kira [Maier] made the difference for us at the beginning of the game," Miller said.  "She battled and fought for those rebounds and really stepped up."

In the next six minutes, the Falcons elevated the tempo of the game with each possession.  As they pushed the ball forward, the Blazers were forced back on their heels, leading to numerous scoring opportunities for Messiah.  The Falcons used this momentum to go on an 18-0 scoring streak and pull ahead by 14 points.

But the Blazers bounced back quickly.  With 11:30 left in the first half, Hood took advantage of several Messiah miscues to go on a 9-0 offensive flurry of their own.

Despite Hood's efforts, the Falcons never took their foot off of the gas pedal and a counter-attack ensued.  With 7:30 to play, Messiah stepped up their defense and forced turnover after turnover and drew numerous fouls.  The Falcons took advantage of their good fortune and quickly turned those opportunities into valuable points.

"We've been focusing on improving our transition game," Miller said.  "We want to push the ball more consistently. Tonight, we created a lot of scoring opportunities because we really pushed the ball up the court."

With more than seven minutes to play, Miller's squad went on a 16-0 scoring streak because of their defensive pressure and fast transition game.  In fact, the Falcons forced seven Blazer turnovers and scored 10 of 16 points in the paint.

Messiah extended their first half lead to 21 by shooting 8-for-11 (72.7%) from the free throw line and forcing 18 turnovers.

"We knew they [Hood] were going to be very aggressive on defense and would give up fouls," Miller said. "We needed to be solid with our free throws and we were."

The second half didn't start out quite like the Falcons had hoped as Messiah went 0-for-6 in the first three minutes.  After senior Taylor Miller put the Falcons back on the board at the 16:34 mark, the teams traded possessions with Messiah maintaining a solid 20 point lead.

The Blazers slowly chipped away at their deficit in the next few possessions, scoring eight unanswered points, but it was Gyori who had other ideas. With 9:16 to play, Gyori dominated the paint both offensively and defensively.  Scoring eight points and blocking one shot, Gyori ignited a 9-0 scoring blitz and extinguished any hopes of a late Blazer comeback.

"You can't say enough good things about Dori [Gyori]," Miller said.  "She's really stepped up and is a great leader. Nicky [Hess] had another solid game for us tonight and Emily [Martz] stepped in and was great when we go into some foul trouble.  This was a good win, despite some bad decision-making in the second half."

Bad decisions aside, the Falcons shot 44.8% (26-for-58) from the field, were 3-for-8 (37.5%) from three, and shot 64% (16-for-25) from the free throw line.  Defensively, Messiah came up with 15 steals and forced 30 turnovers.

The Falcons will now prepare to take on their next conference opponent, the Blue Jays of Elizabethtown College.  This match-up will take place next Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. in Brubaker Gymnasium.