Box Score
With an 80-76 victory at Wilberforce University on Tuesday night, the Malone University women's basketball team posted back-to-back wins for the first time in the 2010-11 campaign. Coupled with last Saturday's 80-50 win at home over Carlow (PA) University, the Pioneers have won two straight and have also pocketed three victories in their last five contests. With the victory, Malone improved to 8-18 overall and to 4-9 in the American Mideast Conference while Wilberforce dropped to 3-25 overall and to 1-12 in the AMC.
Malone jumped out to an early 13-2 lead and led by as many as 20 points in the first half (35-15) before settling for a 48-35 advantage at the intermission. The hosts would not go away quietly, though, as the Bulldogs battled back to tie the game at 60-60 midway through the second stanza (9:23 left). Malone then went on an 8-2 run to take a 68-62 lead before Wilberforce again stormed back with a 9-0 run of its own to grab its first lead of the game at 71-68 with 3:09 remaining. The pendulum swung again as Malone rattled off seven straight points to take a 75-71 lead but, with 1:07 remaining, Wilberforce grabbed its second and final lead of the game at 76-75. Then, with just 41 seconds left, Malone guard
Sara Tucke's three-pointer put the Pioneers ahead for good as Malone closed out the contest with five straight points to secure the four-point 80-76 victory.
Guard
Amy Kittle paced Malone by blazing the nets for a game-high 27 points, which was just one point shy of her season-high 28 (vs. Cincinnati Christian Nov. 9
th). Kittle was four of six from three-point range and sank all five of her free throw attempts. Forward
Alison Schloz also reached twin figures as she tossed in 10 points. Guard
Allyson Wilson contributed nine points and six rebounds while forward
Sarah VanVoorhis matched Wilson with a team-high six rebounds and also added eight points to the Pioneer cause. Tucke also had eight points and pulled down four rebounds.
Danielle Lewis paced Wilberforce with 23 points followed closely by Andrecia Smith with 22. Amira Thomas grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Shooting percentages and conversions from the floor, both inside and outside the three-point arc, were fairly even between the teams but it was Malone's 20 free throws made, compared to the Bulldogs' 13, which made the difference in the contest. The Pioneers were 20 of 26 from the line (76.9%) while Wilberforce was 13 of 15 (86.7%). Malone sank 26 of 61 field goal attempts (42.6%) and eight of 20 three-point tries (40.0%) while the Bulldogs drilled 28 of 63 field goal attempts (44.4%) and seven of 20 three-point tosses. In addition, Wilberforce held a 38-35 edge in rebounding.
Malone will go for three in a row on Saturday when the team travels to Ursuline College (6-21, 3-10 AMC) for a 2:00 p.m. contest. In the previous meeting this season between the teams, Ursuline collected a 56-49 win at home on January 4th.
