The Malone University women's basketball team sent its seniors out with a bang Saturday night with a thrilling 81-80 overtime victory over visiting Ursuline College in front of a rowdy and raucous home crowd. Ursuline, who had already locked up the #1 seed in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championships next week, came into Osborne Hall unbeaten in their previous 16 games and undefeated (13-0) in conference.
 
The Pioneers not only snapped the Arrows' 16-game overall winning streak, but they also ended Ursuline's 24-game winning streak against G-MAC opponents dating back to last season. Malone, meanwhile, won its ninth straight contest to close out the regular season with a 21-6 overall mark and a 12-2 record in the G-MAC. The Pioneers will begin the G-MAC Tournament next weekend.
 
Prior to Saturday night's contest, Malone honored its six graduating seniors: Victoria McDuffie, Natalie Nickol, Hannah McCue, Alaina Schwarz, Mackenzie Storlie, and Rachel Goddard.



Recap
In a well-played first quarter, the Pioneers opened up a six-point lead over the Arrows, who came in ranked 4th in the most recent Midwest Regional Poll. Chrissie Vaughan's three, her second of the quarter, gave the Pioneers a 16-10 lead with 3:42 remaining in the period. Ursuline responded with six straight points to close out the period with the two teams tied, 16-16.
 
Ursuline turned a 6-0 run into an 11-0 run and led 21-16 early in the second period before a Baylen Dyrlund jumper finally halted Malone's six-minute scoring drought. Hannah McCue's three-pointer on the next possession tied the game at 21-21. Tied at 25-25 a few minutes later, a clutch three-pointer from senior Mackenzie Storlie, her only field goal of the game, made it 28-25. A pair of Rachel Goddard buckets, including one in the final five seconds of the half, gave Malone a 36-32 edge going into the intermission.
 
The Arrows quickly regained the lead with five straight points to start the third quarter before the Pioneers pieced together a 12-4 run to give them what would be their largest lead of the game. Triples from Vaughan and senior Alaina Schwarz, her only make of the game, followed by back-to-back driving layups from Goddard gave the hosts a 48-41 advantage with 6:33 left in the third. Ursuline bounced back with a 9-0 run to reclaim the lead before another clutch McCue three gave Malone a 51-50 lead. The Arrows once again responded to take a 55-53 advantage into the fourth.
 
After falling behind 58-53 in the opening minute of the fourth, McCue drained another three to cut the deficit to two points. Chrissie Vaughan would score seven of Malone's next nine points and then came up with a huge block on the defensive end that ignited the home stands. Leading 65-61, following an Ursuline free throw, Goddard would then hit a contested mid-range jumper to put the Pioneers up by six with 3:37 to play.
 
Ursuline senior Erica Huber came down on the possession and calmly drilled a three to cut the deficit in half before Goddard drained another difficult jumper to put the Pioneers up 69-64 with 2:35 to play. A minute later, 2016 G-MAC Player of the Year Laney Lewis sank a pair of free throws to make it 69-66. The next time down the court, Baylen Dyrlund was fouled and sent to the line with a chance to make it a two possession game. The 77% free-throw shooter missed both freebies and gave the Arrows a chance to tie with a three. With 46 seconds left, that's exactly what they did as Natalie Koenig's triple made it 69-69.
 
On the subsequent possession, Goddard, playing in her final collegiate home game buried yet another difficult jumper to put Malone ahead 71-69 with 20 seconds to play. After Malone forced an Ursuline missed jumper, Goddard was fouled with eight seconds left and sent to the line with a chance to ice it. Coming into the game shooting nearly 87% from the free throw line, Goddard missed both of her tries and gave Ursuline new life. Following a timeout to advance the basketball, Huber was fouled driving to the basket with under a second remaining. She drained both of her free throws to force overtime with the two teams tied at 71-all.
 
In OT, Malone struck first with a Goddard layup to make it 73-71. Following an equalizing Ursuline layup, Vaughan and McCue came up huge with a pair of three-pointers sandwiched around an Ursuline jumper to give the Pioneers a 79-75 lead.  The Arrows managed to tie it a 79-79 on back-to-back layups before eventually taking an 80-79 lead on a technical foul free throw.
 
After trading misses in the final minute, Malone called upon Goddard once again to win it. With the clock winding under 10 seconds, the senior point guard drove to the basket but was fouled on her shot attempt. Not to be denied the second time around, Goddard hit nothing but net on both of her free throws, the second one proving to be the game-winner. With one final chance to win it, the Arrows went to Lewis on their last possession, but she was stripped by senior Hannah McCue in the final second. The Pioneer student section, which showed up in droves, stormed the court and swarmed the Malone bench after watching their resilient Pioneers knock off the first-place Arrows in a dramatic 81-80 victory.
 
Game Highlights
-In total, the exciting contest featured 10 ties and 13 lead changes and neither team ever led by more than seven points.
-The Pioneers were outstanding from beyond the arc, draining 12 of 24 three-pointers to match a season-high 50% mark.
-Overall, Malone shot 44.9% (31-of-69) from the field while the visitors shot 44.4% (28-of-63).
-Ursuline held a 36-30 advantage in points in the paint, a 40-36 edge in rebounds, and 10-6 edge in second chance points.
-The Arrows were forced by Malone into 19 turnovers; tied for second-most in a game this season and their most in their last 11 games.
-The overtime win was the second for Malone in the last two seasons. Rachel Goddard hit the eventual game-winner against Lake Superior State last season as well.
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Goddard finished the game with 25 points, her second-most this season, and six assists. She added two steals and played 42 minutes in her final game on the Hal Smith hardwood.
-Chrissie Vaughan was outstanding from distance, finishing 5-of-6 from three-point range. She totaled 19 points, four rebounds, and two blocked shots.
-Despite struggling from the field, Hannah McCue finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, a block, and a season-high six steals, none bigger than the theft in the final seconds.
-Baylen Dyrlund added 13 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in a statsheet-stuffing performance.
 
Ursuline Individual Highlights
-The starting five of Natalie Koenig (20), Laney Lewis (18), Erica Huber (18), Brigan Wymer (14), and Camryn Hill (10) accounted for all 80 of the Arrows' points.
-Lewis added 12 rebounds, three assists, and two steals.
-Hill added six rebounds.
-Koenig and Huber each recorded three steals.
 
Up Next:
The Pioneers will enter the G-MAC Championship with a first-round bye as the #2 seed. They will take on either Cedarville or Alderson Broaddus on Friday, March 3rd at 7:30 pm.