January 12, 2008

Malone Falls To Daemen (NY) 79-61

 
The Malone College women’s basketball team suffered a 79-61 defeat at home to American Mideast Conference North Division foe Daemen (NY) College on Saturday evening.  The contest remained close until midway through the first half when the Wildcats went on a 12-2 run to take a 30-15 lead with six minutes remaining in the opening stanza.  Malone fought back over the next several minutes to trim the deficit to eight points at 31-23, but Daemen was able to push its halftime advantage back to 39-23 after outscoring the Pioneers 8-0 over the final three minutes of the frame.  The Wildcats then maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second stanza en route to the convincing 79-61 road victory. 
 
Malone’s overall record dropped to the 3-11 overall (1-1 AMC North) with the loss while Daemen notched its fifth-straight win and improved its overall record to 10-5 (2-0 AMC North).
 
 The Wildcats made over 44% (30-67) of their overall field goal attempts on the evening despite the fact that they missed all nine of their three-point shots.  Daemen controlled the paint with a 49-36 advantage in total rebounds and six blocked shots  Malone struggled to get its offense on track throughout the game as the squad converted on just 21 of its 60 (35.0%) overall shots from the field, including only three of 13 (23.1%) attempts from beyond the three-point arc.  The Pioneers also labored at the charity stripe, converting on 16 of 27 (59.3%) free throws.
 
Junior forward Tara Miller (Miami East H.S.) led the way for Malone by posting a pair of career highs with 15 points and nine rebounds.  Freshman guard Allyson Wilson (Firestone H.S.) followed with 12 points and five rebounds while senior guard Kellyn Murphy (St. Vincent-St. Mary H.S.) registered 10 points, five rebounds and four steals.
 
This week, Malone (3-11 overall, 1-1 AMC North) will travel to Carlow (PA) University (2-11 overall, 0-2 AMC North) on Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. contest with the Celtics before returning home on Saturday for a 5:30 p.m. match-up against Roberts Wesleyan (NY) College (8-7 overall, 1-1 AMC North).
 
This week’s opponents: Carlow- The Pioneers hold a 7-0 advantage in the all-time series with the Celtics.  The two squads last met on November 9, 2004 at Carlow as Malone posted a 94-62 victory.  Roberts Wesleyan- The Pioneers lead the all-time series between the two schools 8-1 and defeated the Raiders in their most recent meeting (at Roberts Wesleyan last season) by a final score of 75-65.
 
Pioneer Notes: Kellyn Murphy paces the squad in scoring at 14.9 points per game followed by Tara Miller at 9.0 and Allyson Wilson at 7.0…Nicole Feher leads the team in rebounding with 6.2 boards per contest followed by Miller with 5.8 and Murphy with 5.4…Murphy is also averaging a team-high 1.9 assists per outing…With five boards in Saturday’s contest, Murphy moved into the Top 20 on Malone’s all-time rebounding list and is currently tied for 19th with 383 career rebounds.
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