2021 Great Midwest Women's Basketball Championship Bracket

CANTON, Ohio -- The Malone University women's basketball team is set to begin their postseason run. The Pioneers enter the 2021 Great Midwest Women's Basketball Championships as the No. 8 seed, and will travel to the regular-season champion, and No. 1 seed Cedarville University tonight. 


The Matchup: (#8) Malone University Pioneers (9-11, 9-11 G-MAC) at (#1) Cedarville University Yellow Jackets (18-4, 18-4 G-MAC)

Where: Cedarville University - Callan Athletic Center

When: 6:30 p.m.

Live Stats: Great Midwest Digital Network 

Live Video: Great Midwest Digital Network 

MALONE-CEDARVILLE HARDWOOD SERIES
These two teams met twice during the regular season, both times in mid-December, with Cedarville sweeping the season-series. The Yellow Jackets won the game in Cedarville 87-78, and knocked off the Pioneers in Osborne Hall 87-58.

Tonight's tournament game will be the 52nd meeting all-time between these two programs. Cedarville holds a strong series lead, 36-15.

Ironically enough, the last win for the Pioneers over the Yellow Jackets came in last season's Great Midwest Quarterfinal when they pulled off the upset over the fourth seeded Cedarville by a final score of 83-73.


FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE PIONEERS

1. In Saturday's loss to Ohio Dominican, Emma Kallas finished with a team-high 13 points. She shot 6-8 from the field and tied for a team-high five rebounds. Holly Groff, Robin Campbell and Alexis Hutchison all finished with double-digit points as well.

2. Groff finished the regular season leading the conference in average minutes played per game with 37. She also placed in the top ten of the conference in average points per game (16.2), three-point field goal percentage (36.5%), three-point field goals per game (2.9), and average assists per game (3.8).

3. With 10 points on Saturday, Alexis Hutchison has now scored double digits for seven straight games and has eclipsed 20 points in four of those contests. Since the beginning of February, she has been a strong offensive force for the Pioneers and looks to continue the effort in the post-season.

4. This year the Pioneers' defense forced opponents into 348 turnovers, a number that places them second in the conference in that category.

5. In her third year at the helm of the women's basketball program, head coach Selana Reale is taking her team to it's third post-season appearance. It will be the third year in a row that the Pioneers will travel to Cedarville for the first round of post-season play. In 2020, the team pulled off an upset with a 83-73 victory, whereas in 2019 the Yellow Jackets advanced 75-55.

KNOW YOUR OPPONENT
The Yellow Jackets come into the G-MAC post-season as the number one seed. Cedarville was the only team that was able to play all of their originally scheduled 22 conference games. Their last game of the regular season was a 92-72 road win over Hillsdale on Saturday.

Cedarville boasts three scorers within the top ten in the G-MAC in field goal percentage, junior Emily Chapman (3rd – 54.2%), sophomore Isabelle Bolender (5th – 51.5%), and senior Ashlyn Huffman (9th – 46.4%).  Chapman is second in the conference shooting 45.9% beyond the three-point arc.

As a team, Cedarville is averaging a league-high 84.9 points per game over their 22 games and allowing opponents to score only 70.4 points per game. This places the Yellow Jackets 2nd in scoring margin. They lead the conference in team field goal percentage (40.2), total field goals made (248), and assist/turnover ratio (1.51); just ahead of the Pioneers at 1.24.
 

WHAT'S NEXT
The winner of tonight's game will advance to the semifinal round on Friday and play the winner of the No. 4 seed Ohio Dominican and No. 5 seed Tiffin University.

The highest remaining overall seed left after tonight's games will serve as the host site for both the semifinal and final rounds of the tournament