Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Despite trailing for the first 31:12 of the game, No. 13 Messiah came back to down Gettysburg, 63-55, in non-conference action on Tuesday night at Bream Gym. Bullets' sophomore guard
Margaret White (Burke, Va./James W. Robinson) posted her first career double-double with 16 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, and freshman forward
Courtney Fields (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) chipped in with 16 points.
The Falcons (5-1) were led by Hanover, Pa., native Nicki Lobach, who had a game-high 26 points to go along with three rebounds, four assists and two steals. Junior guard Lauren Shurr contributed 13 points to the winning effort.
Gettysburg (5-2) lost for the first time since the season opener, snapping a five-game winning streak. The Bullets built an 11-point halftime edge by holding Messiah to just 26.9 percent shooting (7-for-26) in the opening session. They also turned nine Falcon turnovers into 10 points.
White opened up on fire, drilling a pair of 3-pointers in the first 2:05 to give Gettysburg a 6-0 lead. Lobach responded with a triple at the other end, and the two squads battled back and forth for much of the early going. Messiah pulled within one point twice before knotting it up at 14-14 on a free throw by sophomore guard Christa Wenrich at the 11:21 mark.
A little more than a minute later White hit a jumper to give Gettysburg the lead again, but neither team would score for more than four minutes. Lobach connected for two from the foul line with 6:04 to play before the break, but Fields hit a pair of freebies a minute later to set the Bullets on a 14-3 run to close the half. White made two more 3-pointers during the run, and senior captain
Katie Reilly (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) made two buckets. She finished the game with six points and tied White for the team high with 10 rebounds.
Messiah turned the tables after the break, shooting 48.3 percent (14-for-29) from the field, including 4-of-10 from 3-point range. The Falcons also forced 11 turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the period to climb back into the contest.
Lobach got a steal on the Bullets' first possession of the half and converted a fast-break layup. Messiah cut the deficit to four points at 32-28 with a three-point play by sophomore forward Ashley Brooks with 15:46 to go. Gettysburg would get the lead back to eight points with a jumper by White and two free throws by junior guard
Megan Hartman (Lewistown, Pa./Indian Valley) with 14:40 left. That would be the biggest Bullet lead the rest of the way.
Shurr made a jumper to stop Gettysburg's mini-run, and the Falcons slowly chipped away at the deficit. Junior forward Gwen Avery and Lobach made layups on consecutive possessions to give Messiah its first lead of the game with less than nine minutes to go.
The Bullets got it back to within one twice, including at the 3:33 mark on two foul shots from Fields, but Lobach quickly stretched it back to six points with two free throws and a 3-pointer. Reilly made it a one possession game with a pair from the stripe with less than a minute to play, but a 3-pointer and two foul shots by Shurr iced the game.
Gettysburg will be back in action on Thursday when the Bullets return to Centennial Conference play. They will look to stay perfect in the conference when McDaniel comes to Bream Gym for a 7 p.m. tilt.
