Elizabethtown, PA - The Messiah College Falcons suffered their second Commonwealth Conference loss on Saturday to Elizabethtown College 69-73.  Messiah (4-3, 0-2) trailed the Blue Jays (6-0, 3-0) by as many as seven in the first half, but clawed their way back to take a one point lead into the half time locker room.  The second half proved to be a battle royale between the two teams as the lead changed 13 different times in the back-and-forth contest.  The final moments of the game pushed both teams to the brink, but it was Elizabethtown's sharp free throw shooting - they went 8-for-8 in the final minute - that gave them the advantage and the win.

"The result may have been frustrating tonight, but it's most certainly not disheartening," Miller said following the game. "I'm encouraged that we took a good team down to the wire." 

With just under three minutes to play and the score knotted 62-62, Gillian Glackin came up big to block the shot of E-town's Alyssa Aichel.  Unfortunately for the Falcons, the ball fell right back into Aichel's hands who then kicked it out to Kendra Beittel for another shot.  Despite a strong box-out by the Falcons, the Blue Jays grabbed the offensive rebound.  The ball found Aichel yet again and Glackin turned away her shot for her third block of the game, but the ball remained in the control of E-town.  Just seconds later, Rachel Forjan drained a three to take the lead and some wind out of the Falcons' sails.

Messiah did hit a layup in their next possession to bring their deficit to only one point, but committed their tenth team foul at the other end of the court to put the Blue Jays on the line to shoot two.  Taylor Kreider made both free throws for E-town, extending their lead to three points.  The Falcons failed to score in their next possession then after another Blue Jay offensive rebound kept the ball out of the hands of the Falcons, Messiah was forced to foul.  This time, Kendra Beittel went to the line and made both free throws.

With only 20 seconds left and a five point deficit, things seemed dismal for the Falcons until Chelsea Danel hit a montrous three with eight seconds on the clock.  After a timeout, the Falcons fouled E-town the moment the ball was brought into play.  Yet again, the Blue Jays were perfect.  Alyssa Aichele hit both free throws to make it a two bucket game.

The Falcons moved the ball up court to Hannah Nichols, who successfully made a layup and brought the deficit back to only two.  Forced to foul on the in-bounds, Messiah sent Aichele back to the line.  Aichele finished the game with a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line, sealing the victory with only a second left to spare.

"We battled in the second half and E-town got a few breaks," Miller commented.  "They fought for those offensive rebounds in the final minutes of the game and we just couldn't get the ball back.  If those breaks would have gone our way the result may have been different."

Despite the loss, the Falcons have much to celebrate. 

"Our bench had a great second half today," Miller said.  "Libby [Timmer] and Dominique [Seamon] hit critical shots for us and Hannah [Nichols] played the best game of her collegiate career to date."

Gillian Glackin led the Falcons with 20 points and 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season.  Hannah Nichols contributed a season-high 17 points.  The Blue Jays' Rachel Forjan led all scorers with 25.

The Falcons will return to action on Wednesday when they host Hood College at 6:00 p.m.