The Malone University women's basketball team will look to bounce back from a Monday-night loss to rival Walsh with a pair of home games against Great Midwest Athletic Conference adversaries Lake Erie College and Cedarville University this Thursday, February 20th and Saturday, February 22nd.
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The Pioneers enter the weekend in third place in the G-MAC while Lake Erie is seventh and Cedarville is fourth. Malone maintains a one-game cushion for third place and with just four regular-season contests left, this weekend's games are crucial for postseason seeding and the chance to host a home game in the quarterfinal round of the G-MAC Championship.
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GameDay
2/20 Malone vs. Lake Erie – 6:00 pm
2/22 Malone vs. Cedarville – 1:00 pm
Video/stats:
portal.stretchinternet.com/malone
Radio: ESPN 990 AM |
espn990.com/listen.php
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Series History
Malone is 19-8 vs. Lake Erie all-time, including two wins over the Storm last season. In Painesville, the Pioneers defeated the Storm 76-46 and then topped LEC 56-34 in Canton in the 2018-19 season finale.
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The Pioneers are 14-33 all-time against the Cedarville, including a huge 81-74 win at the Yellow Jackets' Callan Athletic Center last Thursday. Malone's victory, which featured a 9-0 run to end the game, stopped Cedarville's 24-game home winning streak.
Team Comparison (as of 2/20/2020)
| Category |
Malone |
 LEC |
CED |
| Record (G-MAC) |
17-7 (11-3) |
9-16 (6-9) |
17-6 (10-4) |
| Points per game |
76.3 |
66.9 |
74.9 |
| Points allowed |
67.9 |
72.1 |
65.3 |
| Scoring margin |
+8.4 |
-5.2 |
+9.6 |
| FG% |
44.5% |
41.3% |
45.8% |
| 3-point% |
38.2% |
30.0% |
35.3% |
| Free throw% |
76.5% |
70.9% |
71.9% |
| FG% defense |
42.4% |
43.4% |
41.0% |
| Rebounds |
36.0 |
31.7 |
34.3 |
| Rebound margin |
+0.3 |
-2.8 |
-1.7 |
| Turnover margin |
+2.7 |
-2.2 |
+4.3 |
Malone Notes
- Monday's 81-75 home loss to Walsh stopped Malone's four-game winning streak, but the Pioneers shot 60% and scored 50 points in the second half. They will look to build off of that momentum going into the weekend.
- Holly Groff totaled 21 of her team-high 23 points in the second half, upping her season average to 19.0 points per game. Groff ranks second in the G-MAC in scoring.
- Groff, who is averaging 24 ppg over the last 11 contests, far and away leads the conference with 84 three-pointers while tallying a 43.8% success rate from deep.
- Freshman Alexis Hutchison, who leads the team in field goal shooting (48.9%) and steals (40), scored a career-high 19 points Monday vs. Walsh.
- Robin Campbell added 16 points at Walsh and ranks 11th in the G-MAC with 14.7 per game while shooting 48% from the field.
- Senior forward Sydney Wentling is averaging 10.0 points per game and has shot 85.0% (17 of 20) over her last three games. She is also shooting 47.9% (34 of 71) from three-point range this season, including eight straight makes from beyond the arc.
- Ellen Doyle (9.3 ppg) remains the team leader in rebounds (4.8 rpg) and is fast approaching 400 for her career. The senior is seven rebounds away from becoming the 25th Pioneer to reach the milestone.
- As a team, Malone remains ninth in DII in both three-pointers per game (9.6) and three-point shooting percentage. The Pioneers are 11-1 when making at least nine threes.
- Malone is 11-0 when holding opponents under 42% shooting overall, 15-2 when holding them under 42% shooting from three-point range, and 14-0 when holding opponents under 75 points.
- The Pioneers have totaled at least 75 points in each of their last nine games and rank third in the G-MAC in scoring.
Lake Erie Notes
- The Storm come into Thursday's game having lost five of the last six, including an 84-76 defeat to Cedarville last Saturday.
- Lake Erie is led by senior guard Josie Chaddock (18.1 ppg) and junior forward Breanna Bauer (16.1 ppg), who are third and seventh in the G-MAC in scoring. Chaddock leads the conference in free throws and minutes played.
- LEC gets to the free throw line almost 19 times a game – third-most in the G-MAC -  but they also rank last in the G-MAC in personal fouls committed and last in rebounds.
Cedarville Notes
- The Yellow Jackets have won six of their last seven games with the only blemish during the stretch being the loss to Malone.
- Junior guard Ashlyn Huffman scored a career-high 30 points in the win at Lake Erie last Saturday and is averaging 12.1 a night while ranking sixth in Division II with 6.0 assists per game.
- Abby Wolford, CU's leading scorer (14.9 ppg) scored a team-high 25 in the loss to Malone last week.
- Cedarville is sixth in the country in fewest turnovers per game (12.1) and ranks among the top-25 teams in DII with 8.8 three-pointers per game.
