This is an exhibition game played in Millett, no video or radio coverage, free admission. Since I bothered to look it up, here is more information than you want to know about Malone.
Malone is NCAA Division II. They play in the GMAC ( Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Here are the member schools: Ashland, Cedarville, Findlay, Hillsdale ( MI), Kentucky Wesleyan (KY), Lake Erie, Malone, Northwood (MI), Ohio Dominican, Tiffin, Trebecca Nazarene (TN), Ursuline, Walsh .
The Malone Pioneers went 15-12 last season. They took an August basketball trip to Peurto Rico. Their leading returning scorers and 5-7 SR Alexis Hutchison 12.5ppg and 5-11 Sr Emma Kallas.
We won by 11, but it was closer than that. We never had a double digit lead until less than 2 minutes to go and most of the time it was between 7 and 3. Hutchinson of Malone had 27. Sophomores Maddy Cluse ( 21) and Ivy Wolf (19) led the way. Sr Amani Freeman had 12 points and led the team with 8 rebounds. We only had 9 girls suited up and they all played. Scott, Tuff, and Boruff were not in uniform.
Starting lineup was Wolf and Sydney Watkins at guards, Cluse and Morrow at Forwards, Freeman at center. A negative was that we had 20 turnovers and our two starting guard combined for half of them. Malone only had 8 girls and they were a bit undersized, but they had good players and pushed us all night.
Malone was the best exhibition game team we have faced, plus they did a trip to Peurto Rico in August in which they played a bunch of games, so they were ahead of us. We did shoot well, hitting over 50%. We were shorthanded at guard with Scott and Tuff both out, we only had two scholarship guards. Claire Chambers, a walk on last year, played 25 minutes. Maybe she is on scholarship now as we have a small roster and they could give her a scholarship for this year. There were both good and bad things from the game.
Good things…Our inside play was better than last year. but it was terrible last year. Sophomore Maddie Cluse has taken a couple of steps forward and looks to be a very solid small forward. Ivy Wolf was also a little better, so that is two very good sophomores to build around. We shot over 50%.
Bad things, Not much depth. 20 turnovers. Coaching errors…Leading by a couple of baskets, we got a rebound with 24 seconds left in the first half and did not hold for one shot. We shot with 12 seconds to go, they came down and ran a nice play and scored with a couple of seconds to go…That is exactly why EVERY well coached team would have held for a late shot, to either score or get a stick back opportunity, but leave no time for the other team to score. Another one, Leading by 9 or 10 points with less than 2 minutes to go in the game, we twice got the ball down court and tried to force a quick shot instead of running the shotclock. Coaching staff and players showed no recognition of time and score. A third thing. Malone sprung a half court zone press on us. The way to attack that is too pass the ball up, not dribble into the traps. Players and coaches showed no recognition of the situation, our point guard dribbled into the trap and lost the ball, but it was not all on her, the other girls did not react and get into a half court pressbreaker so she had no one to pass the ball to, and the coaching staff did nothing to alert the players and get them into position. That is lack of preparation and execution that should be expected from both players and coaches at this level.
Hendrix should have been let go after last season, but I can understand why we may have needed to keep her on to avoid a buyout right when we let Owens go as well.
Below is a CC of my post from 8 gays ago. Perhaps I was being a bit too optimistic.Looks like a tough road with Scott rehabbing and a limited lineup…
Knowing basically nothing, Miami’s women’s BB team needs to get 10 wins overall and 6 MAC wins to save the coach’s job…IMHO…if they get 8 overall and fewer than 5 MAC wins, it’s time for a change…
