Box Score CANTON -- Malone University's women's basketball team returned home to Osborne Hall on Wednesday evening to welcome Lake Erie College. 

The Pioneers (10-7, 6-5 G-MAC) clung to a six-point lead at halftime, and closed out the Storm (1-16, 0-11 G-MAC) down the stretch to grab the 70-55 win. 

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
A layup from Madison Hunter, and a trey from Holly Groff opened up the scoring for Malone to take a 5-2 lead. The Pioneers never trailed the rest of the game.

Right before the end of the first quarter, Lake Erie hit a buzzer beater jumper to make it 20-14.

Groff had 11 of her points in just the first quarter.

With 5:21 left in the half, Kelsey Swihart scored five consecutive points to give the Pioneers a 29-18 advantage, Malone's first double-digit lead of the night.

The Storm fought back with a 10-3 run of their own to bring down Malone's lead to just four points.

A bucket from Emma Kallas helped send the Pioneers to the halftime break with a 34-28 lead. 

Another layup from Kallas gave Malone another comfortable double-digit lead.

As time was ticking down, Robin Campbell dribbled down the lane and converted on a jumper with two seconds left in the third quarter to make it 51-38.

A layup from Alexis Hutchison with 5:31 left in the game made it 64-44, Malone's largest lead of the night. 

Lake Erie attempted to make a comeback, however the Pioneers were able to hold off the Storm down the stretch for the 70-55 win.


PIONEER POINTS

• Holly Groff finished with 20 points. She was 7-15 from the field, and distributed three assists.
• Kelsey Swihart recorded a career-high 12 points and two blocks. 
• Robin Campbell (11) and Emma Kallas (10) rounded out the double-digit scorers for Malone. Kallas finished with a team-high seven rebounds.
• This will be the fourth consecutive time that the Pioneers beat Lake Erie.

WHAT'S NEXT?
The Pioneers will be home this weekend as they host Ursuline College. Tip off from Osborne Hall is 1:00pm on January 22.