Falcons Fall To Howard Payne In National Championship
Messiah's senior class of Lobach, Schurr, Avery and Reed helped capture the program's second national runner-up trophy Saturday.

Holland, MI – It was a bittersweet finish for the Messiah College women’s basketball program Saturday night, as the Falcons dropped a 68-54 decision to Howard Payne University (Brownwood, Tex.) in the 2008 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball National Championship at Hope College’s DeVos Fieldhouse.

Messiah (30-3) failed to be the first team to put a chink in the Yellow Jackets’ armor, as Howard Payne (33-0) became the first undefeated national champion in Division III women’s basketball since Washington University in St. Louis accomplished the feat in 1999-2000.

The Falcons concluded their season with a school-record 30 wins, appearing in the national championship contest for only the second time in program history. Messiah fell to Washington-St. Louis by a 67-45 score in the 2000-2001 title game.

“Did we play our best game tonight? Absolutely not,” Messiah head coach Mike Miller asked rhetorically in Saturday’s post-game press conference. “But I’m a firm believer that the other team has a lot to do with that. All the credit goes to Howard Payne. They played one of their best games and they got it done. Obviously we’re disappointed we didn’t finish this off, but you have to give them the credit.”

Miller’s team faced the daunting task of trying to slow down Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division III Player of the Year Meia Daniels, while at the same time trying to navigate a swarming 2-3 zone defense.

Both caused Messiah issues from the outset, as the 5-8 Daniels carded 12 first-half points while the Falcons committed 12 first-period turnovers – a statistic that led to 15 Howard Payne points.

Still, Messiah stayed within striking distance. Senior Lauren Schurr opened the game with a three pointer from the left wing, while a layup from classmate Nikki Lobach gave the Falcons a 5-2 lead just a minute and a half into play.

An interior basket from junior Ashley Brooks kept Messiah ahead 7-4 at the 16:26 mark, but a quick, six to nothing run from the Yellow Jackets earned Howard Payne its first lead of the game (10-7) with 14:26 to play.

Another jumper from Lobach pulled Messiah within a point (10-9) just moments later, but another six to nothing run from the Yellow Jackets opened the spread to 16-9 with 11:24 to go in the first half.

Back-to-back threes from senior Amy Reed and Schurr pulled Miller’s team back within a point at the 9:06 mark, but yet another six to nothing run from Howard Payne rebuilt a 22-15 lead with 5:49 to play.

The Yellow Jackets then kept the difference at a minimum of six points over the final four minutes of the first half, using one of its eight first-half offensive rebounds to score a put-back basket right before the halftime buzzer.

Howard Payne held a 35-25 lead at the break.

“We did not handle the ball well in the first half which meant we had to play a lot of defense,” Miller said. “We haven’t played against a zone defense since early January, I think, and their rotations were wonderful. We did our best to prepare, but our zone defense doesn’t represent theirs.”

Placing pressure on the wings while at the same time clogging space on the baseline, Howard Payne’s zone defense seemed impenetrable at times. That was certainly the case in the opening moments of the second half, as the Yellow Jackets put up another six to nothing spurt to claim a 41-25 lead with 18:31 to play.

Sadly, the remainder of the game would be a case of Messiah getting close on several occasions, but failing to find the big basket or play to make things palpably tight. The Falcons cut the difference to 12 points on three occasions over the game’s next three minutes, but came up empty on the ensuing offensive possessions to get things closer.

Such was the case again at the 8:07 mark, when a triple from Schurr cut the difference to 55-44. Following a free throw from the Yellow Jackets’ Daniels, Lobach scored a twisting basket inside to pull the Falcons within a 56-46 deficit with 7:07 to play.

Howard Payne responded with a basket on its next possession, and Messiah would come up empty on its next three trips – all while holding Payne scoreless on the defensive end.

The Falcons’ last chance to get closer came at the 5:05 mark, when Lobach was fouled with the score 60-48. Her first free throw on a one-and-one situation rattled around the rim before falling out, however, and Howard Payne went on to score another basket on its next sequence.

Messiah did not help itself at the free throw line, going just six of 14 (42.9 percent) on the evening. The team’s six makes and overall free throw percentage both equaled season lows.

Meanwhile, Howard Payne converted 17 of 22 foul shots (77.3 percent), while Messiah forced the Yellow Jackets into just 10 turnovers, also a season low for Miller’s team.

“They are a great team,” Lobach said following the game. “They have a lot of great individual players that work well together. We had a few mental errors that may have kept us from turning the game around, but they capitalized on all of our mistakes. You can’t take anything away from them.”

Lobach led Messiah with 20 points in her final game as a collegian, going 9-18 from the field and two of six from the charity stripe. Schurr knocked in 11 points on a three for five effort from deep, while junior Katie Kalb had another strong night, tallying eight points on a three of six shooting performance.

The Falcons’ 54 total points equaled a season-low for the team, while Howard Payne outrebounded Messiah by a 40-27 margin, the Falcons’ largest negative disparity on the boards this year.

Howard Payne scored 19 points off of Messiah turnovers during the game, while outscoring the Falcons by a 42-24 margin in the paint. Many of those points came courtesy of a 14 to five advantage on the offensive glass, as the Yellow Jackets possessed a 15 to four difference in second-chance points.

“I thought our early turnovers helped them to some of their points and got them into a little bit of an offensive rhythm,” Miller said. “Every time we’d make a run, score four or five points in a row, they answered.”

Miller then turned his attention to reflecting on the play of his four seniors, as Lobach, Schurr, Reed and Gwen Avery had finished their incredible college careers on this night. With the exception of Lobach – who transferred to Messiah as a sophomore after spending her freshman year at Binghamton University – the group posted a career record of 107-13 in four years, the most winningest class in program history. With Lobach in uniform, Messiah recored an overall record of 82-9.

As Howard Payne called a timeout with just 43 seconds remaining in the game, Miller brought the four seniors together on the bench and spoke into his hand.

The group was emotional at the conclusion of the break.

Miller had a hard time fighting back tears in the post-game press conference, as well.

“I’m not sure what I can say about this group,” he said. “I can honestly say that I wanted this (championship) for them. I couldn’t care less about it, but I wanted it so bad for them. They earned this chance. Sometimes, in life, you say, ahhh, life’s not fair. But life was real fair to get these seniors to this point.”

He wiped away tears. His emotions would cut off his comments before he was ready.

“These four girls are absolutely wonderful.”

Lobach earned all-tournament team honors, joining Howard Payne’s Kimberly Hoffman and Daniels, who was named most outstanding player. Oglethorpe University’s Tina Grace and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater’s Tiffany Morton rounded off the all-tournament team. Wisconsin-Whitewater defeated Oglethorpe by an 80-67 score in Saturday's consolation game.

Check back to this website in the coming days for more reflection on the Messiah College women’s basketball season, as well as the possibility for additional post-season awards and honors.