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Ringing In '09 With A Title: Messiah Wins Naismith Classic
Senior Christa Wenrich joined classmate Sal Shani and junior Julie Henninger in hitting double-figure scoring totals in both Springfield Classic games.

Springfield, MA — The Messiah women’s basketball team celebrated the start of a new year by playing where basketball started this weekend, taking the Springfield College Naismith Classic with wins over both Skidmore College and Salve Regina University.

Participating in the tournament for the first time since the 2002 season — the Falcons won that year’s championship as well — Messiah (8-2) added to its Naismith hardware by dispensing Skidmore 65-51 Friday afternoon and coming back against a pesky Salve Regina team to claim a 63-57 win in the championship game.

“Overall, we put forth some very good effort this weekend,” said Mike Miller, Messiah head coach. “We’ve been emphasizing energy and effort from all five people on the floor, all the time, and we’ve been concerned with that piece of the puzzle. I thought our effort came through in how we battled and rebounded the ball all weekend. If we continue to get that cleaned up, we have a chance to get a lot better.”

A season-high 45-28 disparity in rebounds helped Miller’s team to its 14-point win over the Thoroughbreds Friday, as senior guard Christa Wenrich grabbed a career-high seven boards while junior Julie Henninger tied her career best with nine. Messiah fell behind by an early 13-6 score, but a 16-2 run over the span of six and a half minutes helped the Falcons to a 22-15 lead with just 4:20 to play in the first half. When Skidmore was able to pull within two points just before halftime, Wenrich buried her first three of the day to make it a 31-26 difference at the intermission.

Miller’s squad then scored the second period’s first seven points to go up by 12 just four minutes in, but the Thoroughbreds were not finished. Back-to-back three pointers from the designated home team cut a 10-point Messiah lead to just four with 9:40 to go, and it appeared that the Falcons would have their hands full down the stretch.

Henninger sparked a quick, 9-1 run, however, burying jumpers at the 9:19 and 8:45 moments to pull Messiah back ahead by seven. When sophomore Angie Rapchinski knocked in a perimeter look with 8:20 on the clock, the Falcons possessed a 51-42 lead. Senior Katie Kalb then iced the stretch with a three ball just over a minute later, and Messiah’s 12-point lead was restored. Skidmore (3-5) would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way, as Miller’s team made three of its last five shots from the floor and three of its last four free throws to salt things away.

Wenrich paced the offense with a season-high 13 points on four of seven shooting to go with her career-best on the glass. Henninger and senior Sal Shani added 12 points apiece, while Kalb notched 10 points to go with four rebounds and two assists.

Messiah shot 43.9 percent from the field (25 for 57) in the win, holding its competition below the 35 percent field goal plateau (Skidmore shot 19 of 57, 33.3 percent) for the fifth time in nine games on the year.

“I thought all five of our starters played really well,” Miller said. “Christa obviously shot it well, and Julie had some key buckets for us in the second half when things got close. I thought her two jumpers kind of gave us our legs back, and we were able to take it home after that.”

Following Salve Regina’s 50-46 win over the host Pride earlier in the afternoon, Messiah’s foe was set for Saturday’s championship game. And despite falling behind by a 29-33 score at the half, the Falcons were able to overcome the Seahawks thanks to another positive mark in rebounding — a 36-30 disparity — and some clutch free throw shooting late.

“(Saturday’s) was a very good game,” Miller said. “There was good energy from both teams and it definitely had a championship feel to it. Early, we’d get up by five or so several times, only to seem to let up. Most of those times, we didn’t call timeout because we wanted to see what we would do and how we’d respond. We talked a lot about that over the break as well.”

Miller’s team did gain at least a five-point lead on three different occasions in the first half, but Salve Regina (6-4) had an answer each time. Henninger scored a layup with 5:29 to play to give Messiah the last of those leads — a 25-20 advantage — but the Seahawks responded with a 13-2 run to close the remainder of the period. Only a layup from Shani could stop the bleeding with 35 seconds left, making the deficit just four points at the break.

A nip-and-tuck battle ensued for the majority of the second half, with four ties and eight lead changes testifying that point. Neither team led by more than three points after Henninger scored a jumper to open the period, while a pair of free throws from Wenrich gave Messiah a 56-55 lead with 4:33 to play.

Salve Regina’s Erin Phillips was able to get an open look with just 2:52 on the game clock, rattling her effort home to make it a 57-56 Seahawks lead. A deep three from Kalb on Messiah’s next possession turned the advantage back to the Falcons, however, and it would be one Miller’s squad would not relinquish. Blocks from junior Ashley Brooks and Shani thwarted Salve Regina’s next two attempts from the floor, and Wenrich buried two more free throws to make it a 61-57 lead with 32 seconds to play. A jumper from the Seahawks’ Olivia Browning went begging with 15 seconds left, and Lindsay Shorey’s offensive board and putback was off the mark as well. Shani grabbed the defensive board and was immediately fouled, making both charity tosses with just three seconds on the clock to provide the final difference.

Henninger again paced Messiah’s scoring efforts, equaling her career-high in points with 16 — a number she posted in a win against the University of Scranton earlier this season. Shani scored 14 to go with eight rebounds, while Wenrich scored 11 points off a six for six performance from the free throw line. Kalb added nine markers and Brooks seven, with the latter grabbing eight rebounds as well.

On the game, Messiah converted just 13 of 19 charity tosses (68.4 percent), but was nine of 12 in the second half (75 percent) while making its final six attempts.

“The key to today’s win was that we played virtually perfect basketball over the last four or five minutes,” Miller said. “We were calm, we ran our stuff and we executed. We didn’t necessarily make each shot, but we got the best possible looks and did some very good things defensively. I am very encouraged by this trip. We worked really hard at some things we’ve talked about, and we were able to handle some good game situations in an intense atmosphere.”

Henninger earned Tournament MVP honors as a result of her play, and was joined on the all-tournament team by Wenrich. Springfield defeated Skidmore by a 73-51 score in Saturday’s consolation game. Complete tournament recap and all-tournament team listings are available here.

Messiah will next return to the friendly confines of Brubaker Auditorium next Thursday, as the Falcons will host Hood College at 7:30 p.m. That game is a reschedule from an original Dec. 8 date. It will also begin the use of Live Stats for all ensuing home games — links can be found on the women’s basketball schedule page.