BOX SCORE
Grantham, Pa. (Jan. 16, 2010) - Messiah College (14-1, 5-0), ranked 14th in the most recent
d3hoops.com Top 25 poll, put together a 9-0 run early in the second half for a 12-point lead, and maintained a comfortable margin the rest of the way in a 76-65 win over Alvernia University (7-4, 3-2) Saturday afternoon in Commonwealth Conference women's basketball action at Messiah.
The Falcons remain tied atop the conference with Lebanon Valley while Alvernia holds in third place tied with Widener. Alvernia will travel to Widener on Wednesday for the first of two meetings this season with the Pride.
On Saturday at Messiah the Crusaders stayed with the nationally-ranked Falcons for the first 20 minutes and save for the 9-0 spurt played fairly even for 40 minutes. Junior forward
Alex Velazquez (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) hit 10-of-11 free throws and finished with a team-high 18 points. Sophomores
Angela Altemose (Pottsville, Pa./Nativity BVM) and
Alli Toczylowski (Mantua, N.J./Clearview Regional) missed just one shot each for the floor and finished with 12 apiece, and junior
Kelli McIntyre (Orwigsburg, Pa./Blue Mountain) inched closer to 1,000 points for her career with 11. She currently has 941 points.
Messiah's first big run on the game was a 12-1 spurt that put the hosts up 18-9 midway through the first half, but Alvernia answered with 11 straight to take a 20-18 lead with 9:31 left in the first half. All five of Alvernia's buckets came on the interior with Toczylowski and McIntyre scoring four each during the run.
The Falcons put together another mini spurt late in the first half scoring nine of 10 points to take a 37-30 lead with 1:31 left in the half. Alvernia pounded the offensive glass for four boards during Messiah's run, but couldn't convert going 0-for-6 from the floor and hitting just one of three free throws. Sophomore
CeCe Buzzard (Willow Street, Pa./Solanco) hit two free throws in the final seconds to pull Alvernia within five points at the break, 37-32.
Alvernia came out with the first bucket of the second half--a layup from Altemose, but Messiah answered with the 9-0 run and kept Alvernia at arms length the rest of the way.
The Falcons were led by
Julie Henninger who scored 22 points and had four players total nine points apiece.
Alvernia's trip to Widener on Wednesday will be a women's and men's doubleheader at 6:00 and 8:00 p.m.
#14/15 Messiah 76, Alvernia 65
