BOX SCORE

Reading, Pa. (Jan. 10, 2008) – Freshman reserve Angie Rapchinski (Ephrata, Pa./Lititz Christian) scored five of her team-high 14 points during a 12-0 run that pushed #6/9 Messiah College to a 62-47 win over Alvernia College in non-conference women's basketball action Thursday evening at the Physical Education Center.

Alvernia (3-7) opened the second half with a 9-0 run getting the final five from senior Jill Rosolie (Quarryville, Pa./Solanco) who finished the night with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds to record her first career double-double. Rosolie found herself looking at a wide open 3 and with a why not stroke, knocked down the long-range shot to knot the score at 31-all with 15:50 to play.

Messiah (13-1) sophomore Julie Henninger (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle) scored the Falcons' first points of the half on the next possession and Rapchinski's 3 at 15:08 pushed the lead back to five on its way to a dozen at 43-31 with 12:00 to play.

Alvernia needed five minutes and six of a career-high 16 points from freshman Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) to cut the lead in half, but the Falcons, ranked sixth by d3hoops.com and ninth in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll, were strong when it mattered building the lead back to 15 on a Nikki Lobach (Hanover, Pa./South Western) layup with three minutes to play.

Alvernia managed to keep Lobach, the Falcons' leading scorer, in check with just 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting, and did what it needed to on the glass, outrebounding Messiah by five, 43-38, but 17 turnovers and a 34 percent shooting effort wasn't enough to knock off one of the most respected teams in the region.

Alvernia will turn right around and head back into the conference schedule hosting Rosemont College on Saturday. That game will be the first in a doubleheader with the men hosting non-conference foe Elizabethtown College. Game times are 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. and both will be broadcast live through the Alvernia website, http://athletics.alvernia.edu.

#6/9 Messiah 62, Alvernia 47