Box Score

The Malone University women's basketball team wrapped up its weekend trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula on Saturday afternoon with a 77-68 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference defeat to Northern Michigan University. 

The Wildcats (5-1 overall, 2-0 GLIAC) jumped out to a 13-4 advantage at the start of the game and led by as many as 14 points early in the second half before the Pioneers (4-2 overall, 0-2 GLIAC) fought back into contest, using a 17-5 scoring run to trim the deficit to 62-60 with five minutes left to play. However, Malone was unable to complete the comeback as the Wildcats answered the Pioneer surge, rattling off seven unanswered points over the next four minutes to regain a nine-point lead at 69-60.  Malone remained within striking distance the rest of the way, but NMU was able to cement the victory by draining all eight of its free throws over the final 60 seconds.

After tossing in 18 points during Thursday's 53-48 loss at Michigan Tech University, guard Selana Reale once again led the way for Malone on Saturday, pouring in a career-high 26 points.  Reale made all six of her foul shots and eight of 12 attempts from the floor during the course of Saturday's game, including four of five tries from beyond the three-point arc.   The junior accounted for 11 of the Pioneers' first 13 points while also scoring nine points during Malone's big second-half scoring run.

Forward Lindsy Snyder added 15 points on seven-of-nine shooting from the field.  Guard Logan Pastor and forward Bri Libertore both provided a substantial lift off the bench.  Pastor contributed eight points, five assists and four rebounds while Libertore tallied eight points, six boards and two blocks in just 19 minutes of action.

Forward Abbey DeBruin paced five Wildcats in double figures with 17 points.  Guard Ann Liewen added 15 points and eight rebounds.

Overall, Malone connected on 26 of 53 (49.1%) field goals, five of 14 (35.7%) three-pointers and 11 of 15 (73.3%) foul shots.  Northern Michigan countered by hitting 27 of 56 (48.2%) shots from the floor, seven of 21 (33.3%) treys, and 16 of 19 (84.2%) attempts from the charity stripe.  NMU held a slim 31-30 advantage on the glass and scored a total of 22 points off 19 Pioneer turnovers.

Malone will return to action on Thursday at home with a 6:00 p.m. contest against Lake Superior State (MI) University.  Live statistics will be provided during the game at http://livestats.prestosports.com/malone/.