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The Tip
The Madonna University women's basketball team closes out a two-game homestand Saturday by hosting the University of Michigan-Dearborn in a 1 p.m. tipoff at the Activities Center.

Thinking Pink
The Crusaders are wearing special pink uniforms for Saturday's game to raise awareness for breast cancer and all fans are encouraged to wear pink as well.

All admissions collected today as well as all monies donated for the special halftime promotions and from the sale of limited edition breast cancer awareness t-shirts (on sale in the front lobby) will be donated to support those suffering from breast cancer.

At halftime fans have the chance to win one of the limited edition t-shirts by making a half court shot. Entry for the half court shot is $2 while the Pop-A-Shot free throw contest is $1.

The contests will take place following the Madonna Dance Team's performance at halftime.

Milestone Watch For McGrath
Junior Kaylee McGrath needs just 35 more points to become the 11th member of the 1,000-point club at Madonna and just seven more rebounds for 500 in her career.

Last Time Out Against UMD
Dec. 7, 2011 - - Using scoring runs of 14-2 and 16-5 in the first half, the Madonna University women's basketball team held a 22-point lead at halftime and cruised to a 73-51 win over the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Wednesday night (Dec. 7) at the UMD Field House to wrap up a three-game road trip. The team shot 45 percent (27-for-60) from the floor, aided by 53 percent shooting (16-for-30) in the first half.

"It's great to put wins back-to-back this way," commented head coach Carl Gravesfollowing the victory. "Our team is still looking to find consistency on the court. We need to find it quickly because there is no room for error in the WHAC this year. We believe that we are a good team but to be a great team, we need to play 40 solid minutes from 1through 15. I'm confident great things await the team if we can do that."

A quartet of Crusader juniors scored in double figures, led by forward Kaylee McGrath (Livonia, Mich. / Stevenson) and guard Heather Pratt (Flushing, Mich. / Flushing) who both had 12 points with McGrath adding eight rebounds. Guard Michelle Lindsey (Bloomfield, Mich. / Marian Catholic) added 11 markers and eight rebounds while fellow guard Shantelle Herring (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota) had 10 points to go along with a game-best eight assists. Senior guard Erin Bentley (Monroe, Mich. / Ida) scored eight points while handing out seven assists and grabbing five rebounds.

After UMD scored the game's first two points, MU – playing its third game in five days - went on a 14-2 run to claim a 14-4 lead with 12:45 left in the half. McGrath scored a pair of baskets and Pratt knocked down two of her four triples during the run to give MU its first double-digit cushion of the night.

After the Wolves whittled the lead back down to just eight over the next 25 seconds to trail 14-6, the Crusaders went on another run, this one of the 16-5 variety to claim a 30-11 lead with 7:04 left. Herring single handedly accounted for 10 of the 16 points during the run with Pratt adding another 3-pointer as well.

From there the MU lead ballooned to as many as 25 points as Bentley knocked down a triple to put the visiting side up 42-17 with 31 seconds left.

UMD got a late basket from Jaclyn Hood to cut the MU lead down to 22, 42-20, heading into halftime.

Coming out of the intermission the Crusaders continued the offensive pressure, pushing their lead out to 34 points when freshman center Taihlor Flaim (New Boston, Mich. / Airport) scored a layup from a Herring pass for a 56-22 lead.

MU did not let its lead slip below 19 points the rest of the way, cruising to the 73-51 win. Jaclyn Hood led UMD with 12 points while Jalissa Williams added eight points.

Cornerstone Recap
Trailing by 10 points midway through the second half, the Madonna University women's basketball team went on a 10-2 run to pull within one of visiting Cornerstone University on Wednesday night (Jan. 25) but could not get any closer, falling by a final of 73-65 at the Activities Center.

Michelle Lindsey led the Crusaders with 19 points off of the bench while Kaylee McGrath added 14 points and nine rebounds for MU.   Senior center Becca Wojcinski (Waterford, Mich. / Mott) and senior guard Erin Bentley (Monroe, Mich. / Ida) rounded out the MU quartet in double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively.

Cornerstone (14-9, 7-4 WHAC) took advantage of 26 Madonna turnovers to the tune of 27 points while both teams shot an identical 41.4 percent (24-of-58) from the floor as CU swept the season series from MU.

The Crusaders opened the game on an 11-0 run over the first four-plus minutes thanks to 3-pointers from junior guards Shantelle Herring (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota) and Heather Pratt (Flushing, Mich. / Flushing) and layups from McGrath and Wojcinski.

The Golden Eagles, however, responded with a 23-5 run of their own over the next 7:49 of the game to rally and claim a 25-16 lead with 7:26 left in the opening half. CU went on to claim its biggest lead of the half, 11, on a Kathy DeYong layup with 2:32 left before taking a 40-33 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Neither side scored in the first three minutes of the second half until Wojcinski broke the stalemate, finishing off a Pratt pass that trimmed the MU deficit to five, 40-35. The two sides traded baskets until a 4-0 CU run put the visitors in front 51-41 with 12:34 showing on the clock.

Lindsey started the MU rally with a layup followed by a 3-pointer from Bentley to cut the CU lead to five, 56-41. After CU scored to push its lead back to seven, Lindsey hit a pair of free throws then turned a steal by junior guard Kristie Porada (Rockwood, Mich. / Carlson) into a made jumper and McGrath followed with a put back in the paint to make it a one-point game, 53-52 with 8:05 to go.

A 5-0 CU run squelched the MU rally but MU stayed within five points until Samantha Flietstra converted a layup to put CU on top by seven, 66-59. The Crusaders got back to within three with 1:38 left but could not pull even, ultimetly falling 73-65. 

Melissa Veltkamp led all players with 25 points for Cornerstone.

Up Next
Madonna heads back on the road Wednesday night (Feb. 1) for a 7:30 p.m. tip at Siena Heights.

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Contact: Patrick Moore (734) 432-5834