Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley College women’s basketball team dropped a 78-52 decision to Messiah College in a Commonwealth Conference game Saturday afternoon in the LVC Gymnasium.
Messiah (5-0, 2-0 CC), ranked No. 16 in the latest D3hoops.com Poll, led just 37-29 at halftime but outscored Lebanon Valley (1-4, 0-2 CC) 41-23 in the second half, holding LVC to 22.6% shooting over the final 20 minutes.
Sophomore guard Nicki Lobach led the Falcons, who had 10 different players figure into the scoring column, with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting while handing out a game-high six assists. Junior forward Monica Johnson paced the Valley with game-highs of 22 points and 11 rebounds, as she posted her fourth-straight double-double. Johnson, who also tied a career-high with five assists, picked up nearly half of her points at the foul line, where she was 10-for-12.
An early 8-0 run had Lebanon Valley on top 10-5 with 16:31 remaining in the first half. Sophomore guard Donna Geiger capped the surge with a steal and a fast-break lay-up, prompting a 30-second Messiah timeout.
The Falcons found their outside shooting touch after the timeout. Messiah drilled three consecutive three-pointers following the TO, with the first two coming from sophomore guard Lauren Schurr, to go ahead 14-10 and take the lead for good.
Lebanon Valley made it a one-point game (14-13) when freshman guard Amie Bickert connected on a three-pointer with 12:25 to go in the first half, but Messiah answered with a 12-4 run to open up a nine-point lead (26-17) with 7:09 to go. Schurr connected on two more three-pointers during the run.
Junior guard Allie Butler popped a three-pointer with 5:35 remaining in the opening stanza, pulling the Valley to within five (28-23), but that’s as close as it would get.
The Falcons pushed their advantage to 16 (47-31) with 15:15 left in the game, but LVC answered with six unanswered points to cut the gap to 10 with 12:55 remaining following a pair of Johnson free throws.
A 9-2 Messiah run put the Falcons up 56-39 with 8:14 left, and after a Johnson lay-up cut the gap to 15, the visitors scored the next 10 points to establish an insurmountable 25-point lead with 5:27 on the clock.
Butler finished with 11 points and five assists for the Valley while senior forward Eli Cook posted 13 points, eight rebounds, and five steals for Messiah. Schurr had 12 points for the Falcons, and junior forward Sarah Ringer notched seven points and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Gwen Avery had seven points and five steals.
Messiah forced Lebanon Valley into a season-high 30 turnovers. The Falcons shot 45.6% for the game while LVC shot 32.1%, including a 20.0% mark (4-for-20) from three-point territory. Lebanon Valley shot 85.7% (12-for-14) at the foul line.
LVC returns to action on Monday, when it hosts Rowan University at 7 p.m. in a non-conference outing.
[Photo - Junior forward Monica Johnson, who had 22 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists against Messiah on Saturday]
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