PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – First it was the men’s indoor track and field team (a week ago) and now, the women’s basketball program can bring some hardware of its own home to Canton.
Malone is officially rolling heading into the spring. The second-seeded Malone Pioneers crashed the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship bracket by defeating No. 1 seed Ursuline on the Arrows’ home floor in Saturday’s title game, 72-64.
Malone did it once to close out the regular season and duplicated the same, yet challenging feat in the postseason, ending Ursuline’s quest to repeat as champs of the conference tournament.
The Pioneers officially clinched the league’s automatic qualifying bid into the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional. The NCAA DII Selection Show will be aired at 10 p.m. EST tomorrow evening.
But all hopes are not lost for a disappointed Ursuline squad with the NCAA tournament in play. In fact, the Arrows are still primed to make the field of 64 for the second consecutive season, this time as an at-large bid based on their body of work throughout the entire season.
That would give the G-MAC two teams in the national tournament for the first time in any sport, just another sign of improved progress as the league gears up for 13 total institutions with Findlay, Hillsdale, Lake Erie, Ohio Dominican and Walsh, on the way.
Women’s basketball has certainly been a bright spot in the league this season with five of the eight teams earning 19 wins or more on the year.
The Pioneers kept getting stronger as the season progressed in their first year with the league, extending a win streak of 11 straight. Under first-year head coach Rick Tice, Malone figured to be an extremely dangerous draw as the tourney bracket was finalized.
Only two points separated the teams at halftime and just like their Feb. 25 showdown, this one had the intriguing prospect of heading to overtime once again. But the Arrows were able to grind out a +5 margin in the third period to grab a seven-point edge.
The Pioneers outscored Ursuline in the fourth quarter, 22-7. The 10th tie of the game was courtesy of a jumper from Baylen Dyrlund before the teams continued to exchange blows deep into regulation.
A three-pointer from Ursuline’s Erica Huber tied things at 64-64 with just 1:03 remaining, but Naomi Grandison countered with a go-ahead trey and Malone would finish on an 8-0 run to close things out.
Senior guard Rachel Goddard has led the team in scoring for five straight games, including a 29-point outburst on Friday night in the semifinals against Cedarville.
She was at it again with a team-high 21 and dished out seven assists. In her last five games, Goddard is averaging 23.4 ppg on eye-popping 66.1 shooting from the field (41-of-62 FG).
Ursuline’s two-time G-MAC Player of the Year Laney Lewis had 18 points, seven assists and seven rebounds to lead three Arrows in double figures.