Sandwiched around New Year's Day, the Malone University women's basketball team will take on Ohio Dominican University and Cedarville University in a pair of challenging Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) home games this Saturday, December 30th and Tuesday, January 2nd, respectively. Both games will follow the Malone men's game and will tip off at 3:00 pm.

During Tuesday's doubleheader against Cedarville, the 2016-17 G-MAC Championship team will be honored with a special ring ceremony.


GameDay
12/30 Malone vs. Ohio Dominican – 3:00 pm
1/2 Malone vs. Cedarville – 3:00 pm
Video/Stats: portal.stretchinternet.com/malone
Radio: ESPN 990 AM or www.espn990.com
Promotion: In honor of Church recognition, members of local churches will receive $1 admission to Tuesday's game against Cedarville. Local Church pastors will be give free admission and will receive a special gift.

Series History
The Pioneers are 32-31 in 63 all-time meetings with Ohio Dominican, suffering a pair of double-digit losses to the Panthers when the two teams last met during the 2015-16 season. Against Cedarville, Malone is just 13-29, but came away with two victories over the Lady Jackets last season, including a 63-58 win in the G-MAC Semifinal.
 
Malone Notes

• The Pioneers (3-5 overall, 1-3 G-MAC) posted a 1-1 record in their pre-Christmas trip to Tampa last week, earning a 55-50 come-from-behind victory over Florida Tech on Monday before falling to Tampa, 67-50, on Tuesday.
• In Monday's win, Malone held Florida Tech to just 13 second-half points and 5-of-27 (18.5%) shooting over the final 20 minutes, but allowed Tampa to shoot 51.2%, the second most by a Malone opponent this season.
• Overall this year, Malone opponents are shooting 46.0% from the field, while the Pioneers are making just 36.0% of their shots. 
• Baylen Dyrlund, a Second Team All-Conference performer for last season's G-MAC Championship squad, leads the team this year with 12.9 points per game and is second with 5.8 rebounds while shooting 80% from the free throw line. She scored 14 in the win over Florida Tech.
• Sophomore forward Ellen Doyle led Malone with a career-high 15 points in the win on a 5-for-5 shooting. On the year, she is shooting 46.4% from the field.
• In the loss to Tampa, Naomi Grandison and Chrissie Vaughan each tallied 10 points. Grandison, who is averaging 10.3 points, leads the team in rebounds (5.8 rpg) and three-point shooting (44.8%). Vaughan is adding 9.6 points a night and leads Malone in minutes per game (32.0) and made threes (19).
• Holly Groff (30.5 mpg) hit a pair of threes in the win over Florida Tech. On the year, she is scoring 8.3 ppg and leads Malone with 31 assists and nine steals.
• Sydney Wentling, Paiten Strother, and Dani Drayer have combined on 24 made threes for the Pioneers, who remain 3rd in the G-MAC with 7.8 threes per game.
• Malone leads the conference in free-throw shooting (78.2%) and ranks third in scoring defense (63.8 ppg). The Pioneers have, however, been outscored in the paint by double digits in all eight games this season.

Ohio Dominican Notes

• The Panthers come into Saturday's meeting with an 8-3 overall mark and a 4-1 mark in conference. They've won seven of their last eight, including a 93-73 win non-conference win over Bellarmine in their most recent game last Tuesday.
• The third-place Panthers have held their G-MAC opponents to just 36.8% shooting and they rank second in the league in steals per game (9.9). ODU is 4th in the G-MAC in scoring (76.9 ppg) and field goals (44.2%).
• The Panthers have sent out the same starting five in every game this season and all five are averaging at least nine points.
• Sophomore guard Alexa Fisher scored a team-high 26 points in the win over Bellarmine last week. She is second on the team in scoring at 11.6 point per game.
• Senior forward Sarah Futscher (11.9 ppg) leads the team in scoring, Megan Eyre (11.4 ppg) leads the team in rebounds (6.1 rpg) and Alexis Overly (9.1 ppg) is 4th in the G-MAC in assists.

Cedarville Notes

• After opening the season with an exhibition win over NCAA DI Penn State, the Lady Jackets (8-2, 3-1 G-MAC) reeled off eight wins in nine games before losing to Findlay 92-83 two Saturdays ago. Cedarville will meet Walsh this Saturday before battling Malone on Tuesday.
• Prior to that loss, Cedarville's only other defeat was by one point (79-78) to defending National Champion Ashland. Before losing to Findlay, the Jackets worked their way up to #22 in the Division Coaches Poll and still feature one of the most talented rosters in the country.
• As a team, Cedarville, is 5th in DII in field goal percentage (49.7%) and #1 in three-point shooting (45.1%). They lead the G-MAC in scoring (80.3 ppg), field goal defense (35.6%) and three-point defense (27.6%) and are second in rebounding margin (+8.4 rpg).
• Five different players average at least 9.8 points, including Regina Hochstetler, who is 5th in the G-MAC with 17.3 points per game and 3rd in threes (46.2%).
• Baylee Bennett (11.9 ppg) is 2nd in the nation in three-point shooting at 53.4%
• 6'3"  Senior forward Breanne Watterworth (11.8 ppg) is 4th in the G-MAC in rebounding (9.1 rpg) and 2nd in shooting (60.0%). Senior guard Kaitlyn Holm (11.1 ppg) is 3rd in assists (4.5 apg).