The Ursuline College basketball team dropped the Great Midwest opener 72-60 to visiting Malone on Thursday evening inside the Seidman Gymnasium. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

The Arrows got out to a strong start in the first quarter after a layup from senior Julia Cardwell made it 5-2 with 6:38 to play and freshman Aubrie Marsh extended the lead to 7-2 with a layup of her own just before the media timeout. 

Malone answered back with five quick points of its own to tie the game 7-7 with 3:19 to play in the opening quarter. Ursuline closed the quarter on a 6-2 run to tie the game 15-15 after one. 

The Pioneers started to pull away in the second quarter when they outscored the Arrows 21-12 after back-to-back three-pointers to start the second on a 6-0 run. A pair of free throws from freshman Alyssa Evans closed the gap to 21-17 with 8:00 to play in the first half. After Malone built a nine point lead at 27-18, Cardwell sparked a run with a pair of three-pointers to bring Ursuline back to within two at 27-25 late in the half. 

Malone took a 36-27 lead into the break. 

Ursuline came out in the third quarter and outscored Malone 18-10 in the period and limited the Pioneers to just 28-percent shooting in the quarter from the floor while shooting 44 percent. 

The Pioneers went on to outscore the Arrows 26-15 in the final frame. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Cardwell paced the Arrows offense with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 from behind the three-point line. She also grabbed seven rebounds. Freshman Tamara Mathis finished with 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds and dished out five assists. Sophomore Bekah Green added eight points while Marsh had seven points and four rebounds. 

Ursuline shot 24-of-60 (40 percent) from the floor and went 5-of-18 from behind the arc. The Arrows struggled from the free throw line after going just 7-of-14  while Malone was 10-of-14. Malone shot 25-of-56 from the floor and were 12-of-30 from the three-point line. 

The Arrows forced 23 turnovers while committing 19 of their won and grabbed a season-best 16 steals. 

UP NEXT 

Ursuline travels to Cedarville on Saturday to take on the Yellow Jackets in a 1:00 PM tip.