By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
MACOMB, Ill. — Maria Messling is healthy and getting a chance to play.
That’s a big deal for the fourth-year Western Illinois forward.
Messling played 25 minutes in the Leathernecks’ 74-41 win over Cornell College Wednesday night, finishing with a career-high 19 points.
It was her second double-digit scoring game of the season, but only the third of her college career.
Just playing, though, is the best thing for Messling.
“I feel like I have a new kind of love and appreciation for the game every time I step on the court,” she said.
Messling missed all of the 2023-24 season and last season with knee injuries. In between, she played in 19 games in the 2024-25 season, but averaged just seven minutes in those appearances.
Now she is a key part of the Leathernecks’ rotation, having started the first three games of the season before coming off the bench in this game.
“It’s super exciting just to be out there and playing with my friends,” Messling said. “It’s something you envision in your head all those days of doing rehab and you just don’t know. ‘Am I going to get there? Am I going to get to the point where I can walk, where I can run, where I can jump?’ And then it’s like, oh my gosh, the day comes and I’m out here with my friends.
“It’s so much fun.”
Messling was 7 of 11 from the field, including a 3-pointer. Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said getting that kind of production out of Messling is “going to be big for us.”
“She can shoot it really well, you’ve got to guard her,” Gravina said. “She can finish around the basket. She can be a strong rebounder. So we were asking her to do a lot. I was pretty excited about her coming into the year too, because she does have that experience, even though it’s not as much in-game experience.”
Messling, from Evansville, Wisconsin, was going to redshirt in her first season with the Leathernecks before she suffered her knee injury.
“Then my sophomore year, we had a really talented team and I got to watch and play against some really talented players, and I learned a lot,” Messling said. “Then last year I tore my ACL and meniscus in the summer, so I wasn’t able to practice or compete or do anything. That was hard.”
The Leathernecks (3-1), coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance after sharing the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season championship and winning the conference tournament, were playing their third game in five days, a stretch that started with a 98-35 loss at Nebraska that Gravina thought was still affecting his team early in Monday’s 57-54 win at Omaha.
They controlled this game against Cornell, an NCAA Division III program. Western Illinois led 33-19 at halftime, then outscored the Rams 25-10 in the third quarter.
“I thought we played good,” said guard Madison Davis, who had 10 points. “Obviously, there’s always room for improvement early on in the season, but I liked everything, the signs, the glimpses the team was showing.”
“Work in progress,” Gravina said. “We’re getting closer on some things offensively. Our decision-making just seems like a half-second slow, maybe a whole second slow, and that just takes you out of rhythm. You miss the person, and then you attack a gap you shouldn’t, or you’re not looking, and some of that is built with instincts with experience. So I think we’ll get there, it’s just a work in progress.”
Mia Nicastro led the Leathernecks with 22 points.
