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Messiah Takes 11th Straight In 91-43 Dismantling Of Baptist Bible
Junior Julie Henninger was one assist away from her first career double-double Monday night.

Grantham, PA — Another day, another systematic dissection for the Messiah women’s basketball program.

Baptist Bible College was the latest victim, falling to Messiah by a 91-43 count Monday night in Brubaker Auditorium. The final non-conference opponent of the Falcons’ regular-season slate, Baptist Bible (4-13) was held to just 28.3 percent shooting on the night, as Messiah (16-2) forced 25 turnovers in the team’s 11th straight win.

“I continue to be impressed with how our team comes out to play, each and every game,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “This group just doesn’t know how to not play hard. With a conference game Saturday, and another one coming up Wednesday, we had every reason to not want to be out here tonight. But these kids only know how to play one way.”

Much like Saturday’s 68-51 win at Widener University, Miller’s team never trailed Monday evening. An offensive putback from senior Ashley Brooks got things started a little over a minute into play, while another post bucket from Brooks was followed by a layup from sophomore Michele Schleich and a tip-in from senior Sal Shani.

A wide open three ball from senior Katie Kalb made it a 13-3 lead just five and a half minutes into play, and the Falcons would greatly extend things from there: Another athletic tip-in from Shani helped to a 38-11 lead with 4:33 to go in the first, while Messiah claimed a 42-18 lead at the break.

“No matter who we play this year, our mindset is to focus on improving,” said senior guard Kristen Groff. “Regardless of what an opponent’s record may be, or when the game is, or where, we still want to make ourselves better each time out.”

Groff aided the Falcons’ cause in the second half, scoring six of her season-high seven points and dishing out all three of her assists in the final 20 minutes of play. Messiah would extend its lead to as many as 50 points (a 91-41 margn with 20 seconds to play), as the 24-point halftime difference would be as close as Baptist Bible would get for the remainder.

Messiah placed five players in double-figure scoring for the first time of the year in the win — the ninth time at least four players have reached double digits in the last 11 games. Brooks led the way with 16 points for the second straight game, bringing her personal double-digit scoring streak to eight straight contests. Sophomore Angie Rapchinski added 14 points, while Kalb and Shani each scored 13. Junior Julie Henninger tacked on 10 points, coming just one assist away from her first career double-double. Her nine dimes were a career high.

Shani provided a career-high in rebounds with 14 total caroms, while Rapchinski equaled a career-best with eight. Freshman Karolena Szolack made four of her six shots from the floor en route to career highs in both points (nine) and rebounds (five), while the team’s 25 assists was a season-high.

“To know that anyone on this team can step up and really contribute on any given night, it’s fun,” Groff said. “It’s nice to know that if a team tries to come up with ways to take away, say Sal in the post, we have other people that can really step up and score.”

Messiah outrebounded an opponent for the 10th straight game in the win, possessing a 54-30 margin — also a season-best difference. It was also the eighth time during the squad’s 11-game winning streak that the Falcons kept an opponent from shooting 38 percent or better from the field.

“A couple of weeks ago we had a focus in practice dealing with boxing out,” Groff said. “Ever since then, we’ve been rebounding well. Boxing out is just energy, desire and focus. That’s been a big goal for us, to get more possessions by rebounding and limit our opponents’ possessions. Defensively, that’s always been a big key for us. Regardless of who we play we want to execute our man-to-man principles as well as possible.”

Messiah will not need to wait long for another test, as MAC Commonwealth Conference rival Lycoming College will visit Brubaker Auditorium Wednesday night. Game time is set for 6 p.m., the first of a women’s-men’s double-header.