Needing a win to earn the eighth and final seed in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship Tournament, the Malone University women's basketball team suffered an 87-64 setback to Lake Erie College in its season finale Saturday afternoon in Painesville.
 
The Pioneers finished the season with a 10-16 overall record and an 8-14 mark in conference. A year after winning the G-MAC Championship, the Malone women will be left out this March. Lake Erie, by virtue of their victory, claimed the final spot as they improved to 9-13 in the G-MAC and 13-15 overall.
 
Recap
Malone withstood an 8-0 run by the Storm to start the contest, and eventually took a 14-13 lead thanks to a 12-3 run that featured back-to-back treys from Holly Groff and Naomi Grandison. That one-point lead, Malone's only advantage of the game, lasted all of 15 seconds before Lake Erie countered Grandison's three-ball with one of their own.
 
After trailing 21-17 through one quarter, Malone trimmed the deficit back to one on an old-fashioned three-point play from Sydney Wentling in the first eight seconds of the second quarter. From there, though, the Pioneers suffered through a nearly six-minute scoring drought as Lake Erie reeled off a 12-0 stretch to make it 33-20. The Pioneers narrowed the gap slightly to 42-32 before halftime.
 
The Pioneers came to within as few as six points on a Chrissie Vaughan triple early in the third, but Lake Erie had an answer for her shot and seemingly every other Malone basket in the quarter. Despite five third-quarter threes, the Pioneers still trailed by seven, 63-56, going into the fourth.
 
A jumper by Groff with 5:47 remaining made it a 69-61 contest, but the Storm ended the game on an 18-3 run to secure the Senior Day win and their first G-MAC Tournament berth.
 
Game Highlights
-Lake Erie shot an even 50% (36-of-72) in the win and outrebounded Malone 43-28, including 16 offensive boards.
-The Storm held a 44-14 advantage in points in the paint and a 20-4 edge in points off of turnovers.
-Malone shot a respectable 42.6% (23-of-54) from the field, but turned the ball over 17 times.
-The Pioneers lit it up from deep as they have all season, making 12-of-28 (42.9%) from three-point range.
-On the year, Malone knocked down 223 three-pointers, the second most in school history behind only last season's mark of 270 which was accomplished in four more games.
-Malone's 36.7% mark from beyond the arc this season set the school record, surpassing the 36.4% three-point shooting percentage from the 1990-91 season.
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Holly Groff drained 5-of-6 three-point attempts on Saturday as she finished with a career-high 24 points, the most in a game by a Pioneer this season.
-Naomi Grandison added three triples on her way to 11 points and a team-high six boards.
-Sydney Wentling tallied 13 points and two steals.
-Chrissie Vaughan chipped in with 10 points and two assists.
 
 Lake Erie Individual Highlights
-Senior Kayla Gabor scored a team-high 22 points in her final collegiate home game. She added four assists and three steals
-Farrah Benner made 5-of-9 threes and finished with 21 points.
-Christine Dawson collected six points, a game-high 13 rebounds, five assists, and two steals.