Box Score

A tough loss for the Malone University women's basketball team (15-8 overall, 10-7 GLIAC) came Saturday afternoon in Osborne Hall as the squad fell to Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Ashland University (13-8 overall, 11-6 GLIAC) by the score of 81-68.

With the victory, the Eagles avenged a 70-53 defeat to the Pioneers at AU's Kates Gymnasium on January 18 while handing Malone just its second home loss of the season.  The victory also gave Ashland a one-game edge over Malone in the GLIAC South standings with five contests remaining on each team's regular-season schedule.

First-half shooting struggles had the Pioneers trailing 37-26 at the intermission.  The Eagles' first-half play was solid and Ashland's shots from the field were a key reason why Malone trailed by 11 at the half.  AU shot a solid 50% from the floor and an impressive 65% from deep while the Pioneers shot 33% and 27% from three-point range. 

Ashland remained crisp offensively coming out of the half.  However, a careerh-high 31-point effort from Pioneer senior guard Sydnee Penn helped  Malone stay close for a while in the second half as they trailed by just four, 51-47, with a little over 12 minutes left to play.  The Eagles would then go on a seven-point run to seal the win as they went up by 15 points with six minutes left in the game.  Although the Pioneers' shooting percentage did jump in the second half, far fewer attempts at the foul line by the Pioneers kept the game out of reach for the hosts. The Eagles kept getting to the line as they shot 81.3% from the charity stripe. 

From the field, Ashland made 25 of 55 shots (45.5%).  The Eagles drained five of nine from deep (55.6%) and 26 of 32 (81.3%) from the free throw line.  Malone shot 29 of 71 (40.8%) from the field this afternoon and five of 19 (26.3) from long range.  They managed to reach the free throw line just eight times and made five of those (62.5%).  Ashland would also out-rebound Malone 40-38 in the contest.

Penn connected on 13 of her 25 attempts from the floor, including five of nine three-pointers, en route to the 31-point afternoon.  Guard Selana Reale posted 16 points and a team-high six assists for Malone.  Guard Logan Pastor led the Pioneers in rebounding with nine and added seven points of her own. 

Suzy Wollenhaupt led the way for the Eagles with 22 points and 12 rebounds to reach a double-double. McKenzie Miller followed with 20 points of the bench.

Malone's next game will be Thursday at 6:00 p.m. as the squad travels to GLIAC opponent Tiffin University (7-13, 4-12 GLIAC).  The Pioneers defeated Tiffin in the last meeting 76-69.  Fans can hear all of the action live on the Malone Sports Network (radio broadcast on ESPN 990 AM and streaming live audio at http://www.espn990.com).