OWENSBORO, KY – Wesleyan women's basketball (9-7, GMAC 5-6) dropped a contest to Malone University (16-2, GMAC 10-0) on Saturday 72-57.
Riley Neal finished with an impressive 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Panthers started the game strong. After the opening bucket by the Pioneers, Wesleyan took off a 7-0 run led by five points from
Vilborg Jonsdottir. Neal made two pull-up jumpers within the last 90 seconds of the quarter, giving her eight points and Wesleyan a 13-11 lead.
Myah Montgomery made consecutive baskets to extend the Panther lead to six at the 7:30 mark. Less than a minute later,
Sydnee Richetto converted an and-one to give Kentucky Wesleyan a comfortable nine-point lead. The Pioneers then got insanely hot shooting the ball before halftime. In a span of just over three minutes, Malone charged on a 15-2 run, hitting FIVE straight three-pointers without a miss (5-5 3PT).
Entering the second half down five, Montgomery took it upon herself to score two early buckets. Although another Pioneer run ensued, this time with a 12-2 advantage.
Arielle Dabu made a layup off a feed from
Shiya Hoosier to make it 50-39 with 5:01 left in the third. Malone finished the quarter on a 9-2 run and won the quarter 23-10.
Richetto drilled a three early in the fourth. The quarter consisted of a lot of fouls and free-throws. Wesleyan shot 11-12 from the charity stripe and won the quarter 16-13.
After Neal, Richetto was the Panthers' second leading-scorer with 11 points. Montgomery finished with nine points and five boards. Dabu chipped in nine points as well.
The Panthers will look to get back on track next week against Thomas More in a rare Wednesday match-up at 5:30 p.m. at the historic Owensboro Sportscenter.
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