Box Score

GRANTHAM, Pa. – In a battle of the top teams in the Commonwealth Conference, No. 13 Messiah College defeated No. 16 Lebanon Valley 72-62 Saturday evening at Brubaker Auditorium.

Messiah (17-2, 8-0 CC) won its ninth straight game, stayed undefeated in the Commonwealth and snapped Lebanon Valley’s 10-game winning streak. Lebanon Valley (15-2, 6-2 CC) lost for the first time since falling to Messiah on Dec. 6. The Falcons have now won their last five games against LVC.

Junior guard Erin Eaby (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) led LVC with 19 points while and Messiah’s Jess Unick scored a game-high 21 points.

The game went back and forth in the early going, as there were four ties and three lead changes over the first eight minutes. However, Messiah took the lead for good when Katrina Green canned a three-pointer with 12 minutes left in the opening half to five the Falcons a 12-9 lead. Her shot was the start of a 10-2 Messiah run that gave the team an eight-point lead (19-11) midway through the half.

LVC kept it close and pulled to within two (23-21) when junior center Jennifer Northcott (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) knocked down a jumper with just over four minutes left in the stanza. But the Falcons outscored the Valley 12-5 over the remainder of the half and took a 35-26 lead into the locker room.

The Flying Dutchmen came out strong in the start of the second half, scoring eight unanswered points to cut the deficit to one (35-34) on a fastbreak layup by Eaby with just over 16 minutes to go. Another Eaby bucket made it a one-point game again minutes later, but that’s as close as LVC would get the rest of the way.

A 7-2 spurt, capped by another three-pointer from Green, gave Messiah a 54-45 lead with six minutes left. A layup by Jess Unick with four minutes to go put the Falcons ahead by double digits (58-48) for the first time in the game, and the Valley was unable to reduce the deficit to less than seven the rest of the way.

Lebanon Valley returns to action on Tuesday when it hosts Albright College at 7 p.m. in a Commonwealth Conference affair.

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