The Malone University women's basketball team will play its final two games of the regular season this week when it travels to Walsh University on Wednesday, February 26th and then hosts Ursuline College in the season finale on Saturday, February 29th.
Wednesday's matchup with Walsh serves as the 24th Annual Mayors' Cup between the two rivals. Saturday's game is Senior Day for Malone as fourth-year Pioneers
Ellen Doyle and
Sydney Wentling will be honored in a pre-game ceremony prior to the 1:00 pm tipoff.
Despite three losses last week, Malone still has a chance to host a playoff game in the Quarterfinal round of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship next Tuesday, March 3rd. The Pioneers are currently fifth in the
G-MAC's points rating system; the top four teams will host.
GameDay
2/26 Malone at Walsh – 5:30 pm
2/29 Malone vs. Ursuline – 1:00 pm
Live video/stats:
portal.stretchinternet.com/malone
Series History
The Pioneers are 36-47 all-time against Walsh, including an 81-75 home loss to the Cavaliers last Monday. Against Ursuline, Malone is 18-7 all-time, including a 72-60 win over the Arrows in Pepper Pike in the G-MAC opener in December.
Team Comparison (as of 2/26/2020)
| Category |
Malone |
WAL |
URS |
| Record (G-MAC) |
17-9 (11-5) |
23-2 (16-0) |
7-19 (4-13) |
| Points per game |
74.7 |
86.8 |
70.2 |
| Points allowed |
67.7 |
66.1 |
79.7 |
| Scoring margin |
+7.0 |
+20.7 |
-9.5 |
| FG% |
43.7% |
50.2% |
41.9% |
| 3-point% |
36.8% |
39.0% |
32.7% |
| Free throw% |
76.9% |
74.8% |
74.6% |
| FG% defense |
42.7% |
40.6% |
44.6% |
| Rebounds |
35.9 |
36.1 |
34.0 |
| Rebound margin |
+0.1 |
+1.7 |
-4.3 |
| Turnover margin |
+2.7 |
+7.5 |
-3.3 |
Malone Notes
- Senior Ellen Doyle scored a team-high 15 points in a loss to Cedarville last Saturday; she enters the final week needing 11 points to reach 600 for her career. Doyle is averaging 9.6 points a game this season and team-high 4.7 rebounds.
- Classmate Sydney Wentling is tossing in 9.7 points a night while grabbing 4.3 rebounds and shooting a team-best 46.5% from three-point range. Wentling has 745 career points in her four seasons with the Pioneers.
- Redshirt Junior Holly Groff has 869 career points, including 489 this season. She is 11 points away from becoming the first Pioneer with 500 points in a season since Nikki Parson did so in the 2006-07 campaign.
- At 18.8 points per game, Groff ranks second in the G-MAC in scoring and she leads the conference with 84 three-pointers. She is three long balls away from the single-season school record.
- Freshman guard Alexis Hutchison, who averages 7.5 points per game, totaled a career-high 19 last Monday against Walsh.
- Sophomore Robin Campbell totaled 16 versus Walsh and is averaging 13.8 points per game on the season, 12th-most in the G-MAC.
- Defense and three-point shooting remain key ingredients to Pioneer success this season as they are 11-0 when holding opponents under 41% shooting and 11-1 when making at least nine three-pointers.
- Malone has also fared well in road games this season where they are 10-2 overall and 7-1 in G-MAC games.
- The Pioneers are 9-14 in the history of the Mayors' Cup with the last win coming during the 2016-17 season.
Walsh Notes
- The Cavaliers enter Wednesday's game ranked 11th in NCAA Division II and winners of 18 straight games.
- As a team, Walsh is third in the country in field goal percentage, fifth in scoring offense, eighth in scoring margin, 10th in turnover margin, and 11th in assists per game (17.4 apg).
- The three-pronged attack of Quionce Carter (27 pts / 7 rebs / 3 asts), Tyler Newkirk (21 / 5 / 2), and Mayci Sales (15 / 9 / 5) combined for 63 points, 21 rebounds, and 10 assists in their 81-75 win at Malone last week. Carter leads the G-MAC in scoring at 19.2 points per game.
Ursuline Notes
- The Arrows are just 3-10 on the road this season and 2-10 in their last 12 games overall, but are coming off a 74-57 victory over Hillsdale last Saturday. They go to Salem on Thursday before coming to Canton on Saturday.
- Ursuline ranks last in the G-MAC in scoring defense and next to last in field goal defense.
- The team is led by senior forward Julia Cardwell (9.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and freshman guard Tamara Mathis (10.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.6 apg). Cardwell scored a team-high 16 points in the loss to Malone in December.
