CANTON – The women's basketball team will begin their 2022 Great Midwest Women's Basketball Tournament postseason run with a trip to the No. 3 seed Kentucky Wesleyan College on Tuesday afternoon.

Matchup: (No. 6) Malone University Pioneers (15-11, 11-9 G-MAC) at (No. 3) Kentucky Wesleyan College (18-9, 15-6 G-MAC)
Where: Owensboro, Ohio | The Owensboro Sportscenter
When: Tuesday, March 1 | 1:00 p.m. EST
Tickets: Kentucky Wesleyan College Ticket Office
Live Video Stream: Great Midwest Digital Network
Live Stats: Great Midwest Digital Network

Senior Day Victory Pushes the Pioneers into Tournament
On Saturday, Malone honored six members of their program prior to tipoff between the Pioneers and the Ohio Dominican Panthers.

Kelsey Swihart's three-pointer started an eight point Malone run to finish the first quarter and the Pioneers would not lose the lead for the remainder of the game. 

Holly Groff gave Malone their first double-digit lead halfway through the second quarter as they Pioneers lead 38-26 at the half. The Pioneers expanded their lead in the second half as they finished the night with the 70-47 victory.

Groff led all-scorers with 17 points. Alexis Hutchison added eleven points, a team-high 6 rebounds, and tied with Robin Campbell for five assists and four steals each. Campbell also added eleven points for the Pioneers. Kelsey Swihart rounded out Malone's double-digit scorers with 12 of her own. Emma Kallas and Brooklyn Troyer helped Malone on the defensive end as they each pulled down five defensive rebounds.

After Malone dominated in their performance on Saturday, they enter the postseason as the third best team in shooting percentage at 46.8%.

Individually, Groff is 15th in the G-MAC in scoring and fourth in three-pointers per game. Campbell is fourth on Malone's All-Time Assists List and this season is averaging 3.9 per game to rank third in the conference. Groff and Campbell are both in the top ten for Malone's All-Time Scorers.

Hardwood Series
Tuesday will be the eleventh all-time meeting between Kentucky Wesleyan and Malone. The Panthers have a slight 6-4 series lead.

The only matchup during the regular season was in December inside Osborne Hall. Despite a second half comeback attempt from the Panthers, Malone was able to secure the 72-68 win. Alexis Hutchison led the Pioneers' offense with 16 points.

Knowing Your Opponent
Kentucky Wesleyan enters the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the 2022 Great Midwest Women's Basketball Tournament. Their last regular season game ended in a Senior Day victory over Ursuline College.

After staring at a 25-24 deficit at halftime, KWC blanked the Ursuline Arrows in the third quarter on their way to a 53-44 win. The 17-0 offensive drive and defensive stance meant the Panthers forced the Arrows to go 0-20 on shooting in the frame, while they shot 7-10 including 3-5 for themselves.

Jordyn Barga finished with 14 points. Barga and Emma Johnson both hauled in 8 rebounds while Johnson dished out four assists.

Tahlia Walton enters the postseason as the 13th best scorer in the conference as she is averaging 14.4 points per game. As a team, Kentucky Wesleyan has the best defensive effort in the G-MAC as they have held opponents to an average of 58.3 points per game.

Looking Ahead
The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the semifinal round on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and play No. 2 seed Walsh University, who earned the bye in the first round. The semifinal and final games will be played at regular season champion Ashland University.