Malone University senior point guard Rachel Goddard was named the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week following a pair of stellar individual performances. Goddard led the Pioneers to back-to-back road victories over Caldwell University (NJ) and Nyack College (NY) and helped Malone climb to two games above .500 (6-4) for the first time in two seasons.
 
On Friday night at Caldwell, Goddard scored 15 of her game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and 20 in the second half as she led the Pioneers to an exciting come-from-behind victory in which they trailed by as many as 14 points late in the third.

With Malone facing a 61-54 deficit entering the fourth quarter, Goddard almost singlehandedly willed her team to victory, scoring 14 of Malone's first 19 points and assisting on the three-pointer that finally tied it up. Her own three-pointer at the two-minute mark gave the Pioneers a 73-68 cushion that effectively put the game out of reach. The talented point guard, who came into the weekend as the national leader in assist-to-turnover ratio, added three assists along with five rebounds, a block, and a steal in the victory.
 
Less than 24 hours later, Goddard scored 15 points in the first two quarters as she helped Malone to an insurmountable 52-24 halftime lead over Nyack. She went on to finish the game with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists, and two steals in an 86-42 win. The gifted senior wrapped up the two-day road trip with 47 points on 16-of-25 (64%) shooting including a 5-for-8 (62.5%) figure from deep.
 
On the season, Goddard is averaging 14.2 points, 5.2 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per contest. She ranks 6th in the G-MAC in scoring, 2nd in assists, and leads the conference with a 4.0 assist-to-turnover ratio. Goddard and the Pioneers will be idle until December 28th when they face Division I Bowling Green.