The Malone University women's basketball team snapped a two-game losing streak with a 60-54 home conference win over visiting Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent Saginaw Valley State University (MI) on Friday night in Malone's Osborne Hall.

With the victory, the Pioneers improved to 5-4 overall and to 3-2 in the GLIAC while the Cardinals fell to 5-6 overall and to 0-5 in GLIAC play.

The visitors' only lead of the entire game came at the outset when the Cardinals scored the first basket of the game to go up 2-0 and although the Pioneers did grab the lead right back and then never relinquished it, SVSU stayed within striking distance throughout the contest.

With an 11-2 lead early in the game, Malone later found itself up by just three points, at 21-18, with 9:32 left in the first period.  The Pioneers soon matched their largest lead of the first half, which was nine points, when they grabbed a 30-21 edge with 2:49 left in the first stanza.  Malone held a 32-25 advantage at the intermission.

In the second half, the hosts twice increased their lead to 10 points, the latest of which came at 42-32 with 14:02 remaining, but the Cardinals would not fold.  With exactly 7:00 left in the contest, an SVSU three-point basket trimmed Malone's lead to just 48-46.  The Pioneers went back up by seven points, at 53-46 with 5:08 left, but the Cardinals again came back to cut the deficit to just three points, at 57-54, with just 1:21 remaining.  That would be all the scoring for SVSU, though, as Pioneer guard Rachel Goddard split a pair of free throws with 19 seconds left and then sank a pair of charity tosses with six seconds left to secure the 60-54 Malone win.

For Malone, guard Audrey Myers paced the team with 13 points which matched her career high that she achieved during her freshman season.  Myers hit five of nine attempts from the field, including a perfect three-for-three effort from three-point range. She also tallied three rebounds and a pair of assists.

Goddard tossed in 12 points while forward Tara Schaffter also reached twin figures in scoring with 10 points (3-5 FG, 4-4 FT).  Forward Lindsy Snyder, who had four points, led the Pioneers in rebounding with a game-high nine boards while guard Selana Reale paced the team in assists with six.

Saginaw Valley State was led by Samantha Zirzow who tossed in 14 points. Zirzow and teammate Emily Wendling paced the Cardinals in rebounds with five each.

Malone will next host GLIAC foe Hillsdale College (7-2, 3-2 GLIAC) in a contest on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.  Live stats will be available.