(St. Mary's City, Md.) – The Dickinson women's basketball team suffered a tough loss to Messiah College in the opening round of the St. Mary's College Dan Greene Memorial Tip-Off Tournament, falling 74-44 on Friday night.

The Red Devils had a strong start, jumping out to a 6-0 lead before the Falcons countered with a big run to lead 16-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Messiah continued to build the lead in the second before first-year Hannah Heiring (Wayzata, Minn./Wayzata) knocked-down a three-pointer at the midpoint of the quarter to break up the run.

Messiah built the lead to 37-17 at the break behind 11 first-half points from Maci Thornton. Mary Martin (Honesdale, Pa./Honesdale) led the Devils with eight points and four steals at the break.

Dickinson started the second half with back-to-back scores from Martin and junior Kassidy Lesher (Shoemakersville, Pa./Hamburg). The Red Devils played even with the Falcons for most of the quarter and were outscored just 19-15 in the period.

Messiah had a strong run at the end of the game to hold an 18-12 advantage in the fourth quarter, advancing to Saturday's final.

Martin finished with a game-high 15 points on the night. She added five rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocked shots. Lesher grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds, blocking two shots and scoring eight points. Brown tallied six points while Heiring added seven points and a pair of steals.

Thornton did not score after the break to finish with 11 points. Four players scored eight for Messiah while Jen Fairbanks added nine in the opener for the Falcons.

The Red Devils slip to 1-1 on the season. They will face Delaware Valley College at 1:00 pm on Saturday. Host St. Mary's edged the Rams, 66-63, in the other first round match-up to advance to the final against Messiah.