2007-2008 Season Recap
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Women’s Basketball Completes 7-20 Season, Narrowly Misses Out On Playoff BerthAfter losing four starters from last year’s squad, the Malone College women’s basketball team battled through a challenging schedule in 2007-2008 to finish the season with a 7-20 overall record and a 5-9 mark in the American Mideast Conference North Division. Despite a final record that was below .500, the young Pioneer squad remained resilient throughout the year, finishing just one win shy of qualifying for the AMC postseason tournament.
The Pioneers had entered the final Saturday (February 23) of the regular season tied with Ursuline College for the fifth and final North Division playoff spot. However, due to the Arrows’ 90-77 win over Carlow (PA) University and Malone’s heart-breaking 62-60 overtime loss to Houghton (NY) College, Ursuline secured the final postseason berth, leaving the Pioneers just outside of the AMC playoff picture for the second straight year (in 2006-2007, Malone tallied an 18-12 record but missed out on the postseason after losing a three-way tiebreaker with Tiffin University and Shawnee State University for the last two AMC playoff spots).
Malone opened its 2007-2008 campaign with a brutal 12-game non-conference slate that included three contests with defending NAIA Division II national champion Indiana Wesleyan University in addition to solo meetings with nationally-ranked foes Shawnee State, the University of Rio Grande, Berea (KY) College, and Huntington (IN) University. The Pioneers emerged from this extremely difficult early-season stretch with a 2-10 record but turned things around at the start of conference play, winning five of their first ten AMC North match-ups. Unfortunately, though, the squad then proceeded to drop its final five contests of the year to fall one game short of qualifying for the postseason.
Although the Pioneers suffered through a number of tough defeats, they also enjoyed their share of impressive victories including a 72-69 win over NAIA Division I Missouri Baptist University, an 83-78 triumph over Berea and a hard-fought 76-70 victory against Notre Dame (OH) College that snapped an eight-game Falcon winning streak.
Guard Kellyn Murphy concluded her outstanding career with an impressive senior season in which she collected All-AMC North Second Team and NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) All-East Region First Team honors. Murphy averaged team-highs for points (15.4), assists (2.3), and steals (1.9) while ending the year ranked ninth in the conference in scoring, 11th in free throw shooting (72.5%), and seventh in minutes played (32.0 per game). She wrapped up her four-year Pioneer playing career with 1064 points and 465 rebounds which rank as the 17th highest career scoring and rebounding totals in Malone women’s basketball history.
Other key contributors this season included junior forward Tara Miller, freshman guard Allyson Wilson and junior forward Nicole Feher. Miller tossed in 9.3 points per game while leading the team in rebounding (8.5 boards per outing) and field goal percentage (46.7%). Wilson, an All-AMC North Freshmen Team selection, made an immediate impact in her first collegiate season as she played in all 27 games, posting 7.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.3 steals per contest. Feher provided solid minutes in the paint with averages of 6.4 points and 6.9 rebounds.
Senior guards Nicole Sisson and Heather Fenner also put together solid performances in 2007-2008 as both players came off the bench to toss in 4.9 points per outing. In addition, both were named NAIA Daktronics Scholar Athletes again this season.
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