Oilers Pick Up Gritty Road Win at Malone
Canton, Ohio - The University of Findlay women's basketball team hung on to beat Malone University on Saturday, Feb. 13 by a score of 61-56. With that win the Oilers improve to 10-9 on the year while the Pioneers fall to 7-10 and remain on the outside looking in as far as Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament aspirtations. In the game, junior Sydney Kin scored her 1,000th career point, making her the 23rd player in program history to reach that milestone.
Findlay trailed after the first quarter of play in which, despite shooting 44%, they scored just 12 points due to turning the ball over eight times. The Oilers pulled to within one point in the second quarter, but still found themselves behind by four at halftime.
The third quarter started with a 15-2 run in the span of just four minutes by the Oilers which put the Orange and Black in front by a score of 41-32. That run led to a nine-point lead heading into the fourth quarter and put Findlay in control.
Malone would outscore Findlay in the fourth and climbed back to within a point at 57-56 with just seven seconds remaining. However, after a timeout by the Oilers, Malone's Alexis Hutchinson was called for an intentional foul on the inbounds play. Junior Bridget Landin sank both free-throws giving Findlay a three-point lead with the ball still in their possession. Another foul by Malone put junior Amber Schweiger on the line and she calmly sank both attempts, ending the Pioneers' hope of a comeback win.
Findlay shot 41.7% (20-of-48) from the floor and made 31% (5-of-16) from deep while Malone struggled offensively, hitting just 28% (17-of-61) of their attempts from the field including 27.8% (10-of-36) from three. What kept the Pioneers in the game was their ability to turn the Oilers mistakes into points as Malone turned 19 Findlay turnovers into 26 points. Both teams grabbed 37 rebounds in the game.
The Oilers were led offensively by Sydney Kin, who leads the nation in made field goals and ranks fourth in the nation in total rebounds. Kin scored 15 points on 5-of-10 from the floor including a pair of triples. Entering the game, the Carey, Ohio native needed just five points to reach 1,000 for her career and a three-pointer less than a minute into the second quarter gave her exactly that. With that make, Kin became the 23rd 1,000-point scorer in program history, but more impressively, she is just the 13th player to amass 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in her career and is just the third player to do so by her junior season. The other two are Findlay's all-time leader in points and rebounds, Mianda Watts (1996-2000) and Nicole Clever (1992-95).
Junior Bridget Landin scored 14 points in the game to go along with seven rebounds while juniors Paige Bellman and Amber Schweiger, the nation's leader in assists, each scored ten. Bellman picked up a double-double, her fourth of the season, and now has four consecutive games with at least 12 rebounds.
Junior Lily Simon scored five points and led the team with three assists.
The Oilers will be back in action just two more times this seaeson. That begins on Thursday, Feb. 18 when Findlay travels to take on Ohio Valley. The regular season will conclude 11 days later on Saturday, Feb. 27 with a game at Tiffin.