Grantham, PA - The Messiah women's basketball team dropped a heart-breaker Wednesday evening, losing their first Commonwealth Conference game to Lebanon Valley College 66-64. In a rematch of last season's Commonwealth Conference title game, the Falcons found themselves trailing by eight points at the half, but quickly bounced back in the second.  Messiah outscored LVC 38-32 in the second stanza, but key misses in the final moments of the game set up the Dutchmen for the dramatic win.

In the opening minutes of the second stanza, Messiah outscored LVC 8-2 to equalize things at 36.  From then on, the Falcons took their game inside, exploiting the fact that LVC was without their senior post, Caitlin Bach.  Gillian Glackin dominated the paint for Messiah, scoring nine straight points en route to 16 second half points.  Her strong presence inside also led to foul trouble for the Dutchmen.  With their freshman post - Lexie Lantz - on the bench with four fouls, Glackin helped give the Falcons their largest lead of the game at 55-48.

With less than nine minutes to play, the Falcons turned the ball over in their next three possessions, all but handing the lead back to the Dutchmen.  LVC's Bridget Rothert hit back-to-back threes and was followed up by a fast break layup from Alyssa Cirucci to snatch the lead at 55-56. 

Following a timeout, the Falcons' Taylor Miller hit a big three and Glackin came through with an even bigger block to take control of the ball and the game.  Deanna Eyerkuss picked up the loose ball and charged up the court for a jumper that put Messiah ahead 60-56.  Miller would extend the lead to 61-56 after making one of two free throws with 5:04 to play.  It seemed as if the Falcons were in the driver's seat.

Unfortunately, this was not necessarily the case.

Be it good defense by LVC or poor shot selection by the Falcons, Messiah would go without a field goal in the final five minutes of play and watch their lead slowly slip away.

With 3:04 to play and the score knotted at 62-62, both teams couldn't score on their ensuing possessions, but it was Sienna Wisse who hit two free throws to give Messiah the slight edge.  After the teams exchanged scoreless possessions, Glackin's shot was blocked by Lantz and quickly turned into a good bucket by the Dutchmen.  Now tied at 64 and 54 seconds to play, the Falcons needed to score on their next possession to stay alive and put the pressure on LVC. 

After using 21 seconds of their 35 second shot clock, Miller put up a long jumper, missed, but got her own rebound.  Miller eventually found Sienna Wisse who put up a three, but it was just off the mark.  With less than 20 seconds to play, the Dutchmen took the ball up the court against a tough Messiah defense.  As the seconds ticked off the clock, LVC's Taylor Umbrel put up a deep three pointer that air balled, but found it's way directly into the hands of freshman Lexie Lantz.  Lantz took the gift and layed it in for the game-winner.

With the loss, the Falcons move to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the conference.  Messiah was led by Gillian Glackin, who had a double-double on the night (20 points, 11 rebounds).  Taylor Miller contributed 11 points (2-for-4 from three) and Deanna Eyerkuss score 10 points and brought down five rebounds. 

The Dutchmen move to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the conference.  They were led by Kiely Chaklos's 16 points and Peyton Carper's 14 points.  Taylor Umbrell and Bridget Rothert both contributed 10 points.

The Falcons will continue Commonwealth Conference play on Saturday when they travel to Elizabethtown College for the 1:00 p.m. match up.