No. 19 Messiah 71, Lebanon Valley 42

LVC Starters
Lehr, Copeland, Evans, Lantz, Yoh

Messiah Starters
Glackin, Thornton, Hoff, Chavous, Dean

How It Happened
GRANTHAM, Pa. – No. 19 Messiah used a big third quarter to pull away and eventually defeat Lebanon Valley 71-42 on Saturday afternoon in MAC Commonwealth women's basketball action. The Dutchmen slipped to 11-13, 8-7 MAC Commonwealth and the Falcons moved to 22-1, 9-1 MAC Commonwealth.

Coming out of halftime, LVC found itself down by just 12 at 29-17, but in the third quarter, the country's No. 16 team began to run away with it. It seemed as though the Falcons couldn't miss in the quarter, and Messiah also played tough defense, outscoring the Dutchmen 23-4 in the quarter. The Falcons led comfortably after three quarters of action, and although LVC scored 21 in the fourth compared to Messiah's 19, it was still not enough and the Falcons went on to win 71-42.

In the early going, Messiah jumped out to a 7-2 lead with 2:50 to go in the first and would add onto the advantage, taking a 15-4 lead after one quarter of play. In the second quarter, the Dutchmen stayed within striking distance, as a jumper from Jasmine Copeland with 4:31 remaining brought LVC to within 10 at 21-11. Later, a trey from Taylor Troutman made it a 27-16 contest, and the Dutchmen went into halftime down by just 12 at 29-17, however the Falcons' dominant third quarter proved to be the difference.

Inside the Numbers
 - Anne Lehr paced LVC's offense, scoring 13 while adding three assists and two steals.
 - Copeland pitched in six points while bringing down five rebounds and notching four steals.
 - Becky Evans and Lexie Lantz added five points apiece.
 - For Messiah, Gillian Glackin led with a game-high 14 points and Maci Thornton chipped in 13.

 Playoff Picture
LVC has clinched a MAC Commonwealth Tournament spot and the Dutchmen have one conference game remaining. LVC is battling with Lycoming to decide who will be the No. 4 seed that will host the No. 5 seed. The Warriors' remaining games are at LVC and home to Stevenson (Saturday, 1 p.m.)

Who's Next?
The Dutchmen play host to Lycoming on Tuesday night at 6 p.m when LVC will celebrate Senior Night.