CANTON, Ohio - The Malone University women's basketball team fell short in a hard-fought matchup against the Kentucky Wesleyan College Panthers, 65-63. The Pioneers fall to 12-4 on the season while the Panthers improve to 11-4. In the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), Malone drops to 5-3 while Kentucky Wesleyan moves to 7-2. Both teams came into tonight's game looking to climb through the conference rankings as they were both ranked in the top five of the G-MAC.
 
The first quarter started off slow for the Pioneers as the Panthers started the game with a 7-0 run with 5:15 on the clock. Malone wouldn't see their first points of the night until Kylee Bruce made a successful three-pointer with 4:15 to go. Kentucky Wesleyan would answer back but Meredith Randulic found her way to the basket on a fastbreak making the score 11-5 with 3:43 left. From there, The Panthers continued their run as they would increase their lead to 16-5 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Kentucky Wesleyan kept the momentum as they increased their lead to 21-9 with 8:33 to go. A tough layup and a free throw by Elena Oliver cut Kentucky Wesleyan's lead to single-digits at 23-15. The Pioneers would start to show life as Erin Kaufman made a layup and then a steal by Anna Krupa led to a successful three pointer by Randulic to make it 28-24 with 2:41 left in the half. Malone would see their gap shrink to just two points via a Randulic layup with 1:49 to go, but the Panthers would increase their lead 33-26 going into halftime.
 
A Brinn Hunt three helped make it 39-34 with 7:28 left in the third and Irene Maroto did the same to cut Kentucky Wesleyan's lead to 47-41 with 3:52 on the clock. Kaufman would keep the Pioneers hopes alive with a layup on back-to-back possessions to make the score 52-45. As the third quarter closed, Randulic made two free throws for Malone as they trailed 54-47 going into the fourth.
 
The Pioneers would come to life in the fourth quarter as Kaufman would earn a layup in the paint to start their momentum. After the Panthers answered back, Hunt drilled a three pointer, followed up by a Kentucky Wesleyan turnover and a layup by Maroto making the score 58-54 with 7:09 left in the game. The Pioneers quickly made the game into a one-point game with a three pointer by Hunt and then earned their first lead of the night 58-59 with a layup by Krupa. The Panthers took the lead right back and extended the gap to 65-59 with 2:49 left. Malone rallied together with shots from Oliver and Kaufman to cut the deficit to 65-63 with 1:43 to go. The Pioneers got a final look at it with a desperation three by Kaufman, but it did not fall in the 65-63 loss.  
 
Key players in tonight's game were Kaufman with 16 points and Randulic with 15 points. Hunt was 3-for-5 on three-pointers and Kaufman led the team in rebounds with 10 on the night.
 
The Malone University women's basketball team looks to quickly brush this tough loss off their shoulders as they prepare to take on the Thomas More University Saints at home on Saturday, January 17. Tip-off time is at 1:00 P.M.