The Malone University women's basketball team opened the 2019 calendar year with a 79-61 loss to Cedarville University Wednesday night in Osborne Hall, falling to 4-9 on the season and 2-5 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Cedarville, meanwhile, improved to 10-2 on the season and remained the lone unbeaten team in G-MAC play at a perfect 6-0.
 
Recap
The Pioneers started off well against the first-place Yellow Jackets, limiting their potent offense to just one field goal, a three-pointer by sharpshooter Baylee Bennett, over the first 6:28. On the offensive side of the ball, Malone scored 10 straight points and took its largest lead of the game when Chrissie Vaughan knocked down a deep three to make it a 10-3 contest.
 
The Yellow Jackets started to click after that run, however, and trimmed their deficit to just two points by the end of the first quarter despite a pair of late treys from freshman Mikayla Poole. After leading 18-16 after one, Malone scored just four points over the first 8:24 of the second quarter while Cedarville broke a 22-22 deadlock with an 11-0 run. A corner three by Ellen Doyle finally ended the drought, but the Pioneers eventually went into the half down 36-27.
 
Three-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter, Malone closed to within six points at 43-37 when freshman Robin Campbell connected on an old-fashioned three-point play. Cedarville, however, followed with a 10-0 rally to stretch the lead to 53-37 and Malone never seriously threatened again. An onslaught of offense ensued for both teams in the fourth quarter, but the Yellow Jackets led comfortably throughout on their way to the 79-61 win.
 
Game Highlights
-Cedarville shot 12-of-15 (80%) in the fourth quarter and 30-of-56 (53.6%) for the game. The Jackets were 11-of-22 (50%) from three and 8-of-10 (80%) at the free throw line.
-Malone countered with an 18-of-51 (35.3%) effort from the field and went 8-of-27 (29.6%) from deep. The Pioneers made 17-of-21 (81.0%) of their free throws – the second most this season – to account for a bulk of the scoring.
-Cedarville, who came in averaging the fewest rebounds per game in the conference, dominated the glass with a 39-24 advantage and outscored Malone 36-16 in the paint.
-Despite committing four more turnovers (16-12) Cedarville also outscored Malone 17-5 in points off of turnovers.
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Robin Campbell scored a game-high 17 points, grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, and distributed a trio of assists. She was 11-for-11 at the charity stripe
-Coming off the bench for just the second time this season, Ellen Doyle totaled 11 points on 4-5 shooting over 18 minutes.
-Mikayla Poole also came off the bench to finish with 11 markers.
-Naomi Grandison canned a pair of three-pointers and ended the night with eight points, three boards, and a blocked shot.
 
Cedarville Individual Highlights
-Senior guard Baylee Bennett went a perfect 5-of-5 from three-point range as she finished with 17 points and eclipsed 1,000 career points in her career.
-Ashlynn Huffman added 14 points and nine assists
-Abby Wolford contributed 13 points and five boards.
 
Up Next
Malone hosts Tiffin this Saturday, January 5th at 1:00 pm.