The Malone University women's basketball team will take part in its first-ever Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championships this Friday, March 3rd  at #1 seed and host Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio. The Pioneers earned the #2 seed and a first-round bye in the six-team tournament after finishing with a 12-2 mark in the G-MAC. Overall, Malone finished the regular season with a 21-6 record and enters the postseason on a nine-game winning streak.
 
2016-17 G-MAC Women's Basketball Championships - March 2-4, 2017
Standings | Bracket | Final Statistics | Championship Program | Tournament Central
 
GameDay
(3/3) Malone vs. Cedarville - 7:30 pm
Live Stats: sidearmstats.com/ursuline/wbball
Live Video: boxcast.tv/view/2017-g-mac-womens-basketball-tournament-3-cedarville-university-vs-2-malone-university-559598

The 2016-17 G-MAC Championship will be played on Saturday, March 4th at 4:00 pm.
 
All-Time Series
Traditionally, the Pioneers have struggled against Cedarville and are just 12-29 all-time. The Yellow Jackets handed Malone a 73-61 loss in January that halted the Pioneers' eight-game winning streak. But Malone bounced back with a 74-52 triumph over Cedarville in February that stopped a 21-game skid against the Jackets.
 
Game Preview
Cedarville (19-10, 9-5 G-MAC) reached Friday night's G-MAC semifinal after dispatching six-seed Alderson Broaddus 62-48 in the G-MAC quarterfinal. Since losing to Malone on February 11th, the Yellow Jackets have reeled off five straight wins all by double digits. Cedarville is led by Second Team All-Conference guards Regina Hochstetler (15.0 ppg) and Baylee Bennett (13.5 ppg). The Pioneers will also have their hands full with 6'4" center Breanne Watterworth (11.1 ppg, 7.0 rpg) who scored 20 points in the Yellow Jackets win over Malone in January. The Pioneers held the potent trio to just 15 combined points in their win three weeks ago.

Malone Season in Review
Entering their first season in the G-MAC, the Pioneers, under first-year head coach Rick Tice, were picked 6th in the preseason coaches' poll. Tice inherited a squad that finished 9-18 last season and had more questions than answers entering the new campaign. Malone started the season 0-3 including back-to-back losses on game-ending buzzer beaters.
 
The Pioneers finally tasted victory in a 71-69 come-from-behind win over Slippery Rock on November 30th and since then have won 20 of their last 23 contests. From December 10th to January 14th, Malone earned eight straight wins, including triumphs over nationally-ranked Caldwell (12/16), NCAA DI Bowling Green (12/28), and rival Walsh (12/31), who beat Malone earlier in the season.
 
Malone dropped its first conference contest to Cedarville in mid-January and then fell to first-place Ursuline a week later. Since that loss, Malone has reeled off nine straight wins, none bigger than the 81-80 win in a rematch over Ursuline in last Saturday's season finale.  The win stopped Ursuline's 16-game win streak and a 24-game streak against G-MAC opponents. Coach Tice, whose goal at the beginning of the season was to have his team playing its best basketball at the end of February, has guided Malone to its longest win streak since the 2001-02 season.
 
The 21 regular season wins for the Pioneers was also the highest total since that same 2001-02 squad.  Not coincidentally, that team was the last Malone squad to play beyond the conference tournament, reaching the NAIA National Tournament. The 2016-17 team will have a chance to do the same as the winner of the G-MAC Championship will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA DII Women's Basketball Tournament.
 
Team Notes - Roster | Schedule | Stats
Malone enters the tournament as one the most prolific three-point shooting teams in DII. The Pioneers have already obliterated the school record for three-pointers made (248) and three-point attempts (719), surpassing  last year's  marks of 219 and 666 respectively. The Pioneers are 8th in the nation in three-pointers, averaging 9.2 per game and have hit 10 or more threes in six of the last eight games. The Pioneers also lead the G-MAC in team free-throw shooting (75.7%) despite posting two of their four lowest free throw shooting games of the season last week.
 
While the Malone offense continues to knock down clutch treys and free throws, the Malone defense is putting up noteworthy numbers of its own. The Pioneers rank 13th in the nation in field-goal defense (35.3%) and 16th in defensive rebounds per game (30). Malone also leads the G-MAC in fewest points allowed (60.4 ppg), and 3-point defense (28.0%) while maintaining the second-best scoring margin (+13.9 ppg) in the conference. Malone averages 74.4 points per game and has scored at least 74 points in each of the last 10 games.

Player  Notes
Coach Tice has employed the same starting five of Rachel Goddard, Chrissie Vaughan, Alaina Schwarz, Baylen Dyrlund, and Hannah McCue in 23 of the 27 games this season. The fivesome combined for 76 of the 81 points scored against Ursuline last Saturday.
 

• Senior point guard Rachel Goddard is averaging 15.2 points and 4.9 assists in her third full season of running the Pioneer offense. Goddard ranks 5th in the league in scoring, 3rd in assists, and 2nd in free throws (85.7%). Goddard also ranks third in NCAA DII with a 3.45 assist-to-turnover ratio. The reigning G-MAC Player of the Week has led the Pioneers in scoring in each of the last three games. During the last nine games, she is shooting 53% (17-for-32) from three-point range and 55.3% (52-of-94) overall.
• Sophomore guard Chrissie Vaughan has been outstanding from beyond the arc as of late, connecting on 15 of her 25 (60%) three-point tries over the last four games. On the season, Vaughan is 7th in the G-MAC in both threes (57) and three-point percentage (39.3%) while averaging 8.5 points a game. The 5'10" guard also ranks 10th in the G-MAC with 10 blocked shots.
• Senior guard Alaina Schwarz (4.8 ppg) has been content to knock down a three a game and play selfless defense. Schwarz has hit exactly one three-pointer in 18 of her 24 games this season while shooting 39.3% from downtown.
• Junior Baylen Dyrlund has excelled for the Pioneers at the four-position where she has averaged 12.4 points and 6.3 rebounds a game, good for 12th in the conference in both categories. Dyrlund also finished 6th in the G-MAC in shooting (48.3%). The 6'0" forward finished second on the squad in both steals (32) and minutes (27.4 mpg).
• Senior forward Hannah McCue rounds out the starting five. After four seasons, including a medical redshirt in 2015-16, at NCAA DI Miami (OH), the fifth-year senior transfer has been outstanding in her lone season with Malone, averaging 14.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.7 blocks a game. The defensive stalwart posted a season-high six steals against Ursuline last Saturday and came up with a block and a steal on Ursuline's final two possessions to help lead Malone to the win.

The Pioneer bench is led by senior guard Mackenzie Storlie, sophomore forward Naomi Grandison, and freshman guard Holly Groff who all average close to 15 minutes a game. The Malone rotation is bolstered by senior forward Natalie Nickol, sophomore guard Paiten Strother, and freshman guard Dani Drayer.
 

• Running as the backup point guard, Mackenzie Storlie racked up 50 assists and 24 steals this season and ranked 2nd on the team in both assists and steals per 40 minutes. Over the past seven games, Storlie has been red-hot from three-point range, draining 69.2% (9-of-13) of tries from deep.
• Naomi Grandison came off the bench in all 27 games this season to average 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds across 15.3 minutes. Grandison has scored a season-high 14 points three separate times on the year.
• Holly Groff, a relentless defender and rebounder, has played in all 27 games this season including two starts. Despite standing at just 5'4", Groff sits behind only McCue and Dyrlund with 8.5 rebounds per 40 minutes.

Looking Ahead
The winner of the G-MAC Championship will receive an automatic bid to the Midwest Regional next weekend as part NCAA DII Championships. The Midwest Regional quarterfinal is the equivalent to the NCAA DI round of 64.