WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Senior Olivia Manges (York, Pa./West York) led the Lycoming College women's basketball team with 10 points, but the team fell victim to a sterling defensive effort by Messiah College, 65-31, on Wednesday night, Jan. 6, at Brubaker Auditorium.
 
The loss puts the Warriors' overall record at 8-5 with a 3-2 MAC Commonwealth record, while the win propels the Falcons to a 9-4 overall record and a 3-1 record in conference.
 
The Warriors looked strong in the first few minutes of the game on both offense and defense. Nicole Calella (Sandyston, N.J./Kittatinny Regional) found Jenn Grove (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg Area) on a risky pass into the paint but Grove finished strong to give the Warriors the early 3-2 lead.
 
The Falcons, however, scored the next eight points and had even scoring distribution as four different players each made a shot. After Calella hit a jumper, the Falcons went on to score another nine unanswered points to cap off a 17-2 run.
 
With 30 seconds remaining in the second, Chelsea Henderson (Yonkers, N.Y./Yonkers) perfectly timed a bounce pass to Hailey Fricke (Denver, Pa./Garden Spot) for the lay-in on a two-on-one breakaway, but the Warriors still trailed 36-15 at the break.
 
Henderson was able to pull in six rebounds in the first half as the Warriors held a 24-23 rebound advantage at the half. Messiah, however, finished the first half shooting 16-for-39 (.410) and had an assist on 12 of their 16 buckets with only three turnovers.
 
The Warriors tried to spark a comeback early in the third quarter. Calella hit a jump shot which started a 7-0 run to cut into the lead a little bit. Sharp shooting and lockdown defense fueled the run as the Warriors held Messiah scoreless for the first 3:05 of the quarter and forced five turnovers within the first four minutes. Messiah came right back with a 10-3 run of their run to push the lead back to 21.
   
Manges scored a team-high 10 points for the Warriors as she hit two 3-pointers to go along with five rebounds and a steal. Mueller finished with seven points on 7-for-10 shooting at the free throw line and a game-high 10 rebounds. Calella finished with six points and pulled in four rebounds, dished out three assists, and came away with three steals.
 
Messiah had a well-balanced attack as Alecia Rohrer was the only Falcon to score in double-figures with 11 points. She finished shooting 5-for-8 (.625) and came away with a team-high seven rebounds. Hannah Brown and Gillian Glackin contributed nine points each and Kaitlyn Hoff scored eight.
  
The Warriors will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 9, when they travel to Hood for a 1 p.m. conference showdown.?