Box Score

The Malone University women's basketball team earned its second win of the season in as many attempts with a convincing 86-65 victory over visiting Cincinnati Christian University in a contest played at the Quicken Loans Arena on Wednesday afternoon.  While Malone improved to 2-0 overall with the non-conference win, the Eagles fell to 2-6 on the season.

In the first half, the Pioneers opened up modest leads of between six and 12 points during the middle stretch of the half but the Eagles managed to stay close, trailing by just eight points, at 31-23, with just 3:31 left in the period.  But Malone then went on a 12-7 run to close out the opening period for a 43-30 halftime lead.

In the second stanza, a quick 7-0 run by Malone set the tone for the second half as the Pioneers kept the pressure on and methodically pulled away over the final 20 minutes for the 21-point win.

The minutes were definitely spread around for the Pioneers in the contest as all 13 players hit the floor with 11 of those athletes seeing double-digit minutes. Only two starters and one other player saw more than 20 minutes of action.

Guard Leslie Raifsnider and forward Tara Schaffter each tallied a team-high 14 points in the game with Raifsnider connecting on seven of 14 attempts from the field.  Raifsnider also collected seven rebounds, four steals and two assists while Schaffter also had seven boards to go along with two steals and one block.

Forward Bri Libertore made the most of her 14 minutes as she drilled six of seven attempts from the floor for 12 points.  She also yanked down a team-high 11 rebounds.  Guard Deborah Simmers followed with nine points while forward Lindsy Snyder, who was one of three players with six points, also contributed 10 rebounds for the Pioneers cause.  In addition, guard Logan Pastor paced the team in assists with four.

Cincinnati Christian was led in scoring by Amanda Baute and Sydney Mason who each tossed in 18 points. Baute paced the squad in rebounds with a game-best 16 boards.

Although the Pioneers held just a narrow edge in field goal percentage, at 42.7% to 40.4%, they did have nearly twice the attempts from the floor, hitting 38 of 89 to the Eagles' 19 of 47.  From three-point range, the visitors fared better as the Eagles connected on five of 10 for 50% to the Pioneers' four of 25 conversions for 16.0%.  At the foul line, CCU sank 22 of 30 attempts for 73.3% while Malone struggled, hitting just six of 16 tries for 37.5%.  In addition, Malone held a convincing advantage on the boards by a 58-35 margin.

Malone will be back in action on Monday when the squad hosts St. Joseph's College (IN), with a record of 1-2, in a 6:00 p.m. contest.   Live stats are available for this game.