Sophomore Dani Hohlbein drives to the rim against Davenport Dec. 28. Courtesy | Reva Ludwig

Despite missing two starters due to injuries, the Hillsdale Chargers defeated the Thomas More University Saints 69-60 on Jan. 13 and emerged from break 3-4 in the G-MAC and 7-8 overall. 

The team has continued to tighten up its defense, cut down on turnovers, and improve offensively as it moves deeper into conference play, according to head coach Brianna Brennan. 

“We’re working on sharing the ball and working the ball earlier in possessions so that we can get easy buckets later on,” Brennan said. “Valuing each possession is crucial, but then making sure that we’re finding the hot hand and we’re getting the highest percentage shot we can offensively.”

Thanks to a strong defensive effort, the Chargers held onto a double-digit halftime lead against a fourth-quarter push to upset the Saints 69-60 on the road Saturday, with junior Kendall McCormick recording two career highs of 16 points and six steals in the contest. 

“We knew that defensively we were going to have to tighten things up and take away those easy shots so that we can make them feel uncomfortable and make them feel our pressure, and we did that,” Brennan said. “It was our best game of team defense thus far.”

According to junior Caitlin Splain, beating the newest member of the G-MAC was a much needed victory after the Chargers fell to the Saints at home Jan 4. 

“It was a quick turnaround because we played them less than two weeks before, so it was still really fresh,” Splain said. “We obviously had that game in the back of our minds. Our big saying was ‘revenge is sweet.’ And we went in there, and we got revenge.”

The Chargers started the break with back-to-back losses 76-62 to Northwood University and 58-49 to Malone University on the road despite a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double by senior Sydney Mills against Northwood and three players scoring in double digits against Malone. 

Hillsdale went up against the defending NCAA Division 1 Mid-American Conference Champion University of Toledo on Dec. 30 for an exhibition game in front of almost 4,000 people. The Chargers put in a strong offensive effort including eight 3-pointers and a team high 15 points from McCormick.

“It was a huge stage for us to play on,” Brennan said. “The mentality was, ‘why not us? Let’s go out there and give them everything we can.’ And they did that.”

The Chargers bounced back after Christmas to win two of three home games, beating Davenport University 66-61 Dec. 28, falling to Thomas More University 65-55 Jan. 4, and picking up a 71-62 victory over Tiffin University Jan. 6. 

Splain filled out the stat sheet against Davenport, going 4 of 4 from beyond the arc in the first half and leading the team in three categories with 18 points, nine rebounds, and three assists.

In their first game against Thomas More, the Chargers were up 46-44 going into the fourth quarter but went scoreless the first seven and a half minutes of the final quarter, allowing the Saints to take the lead. 

“We just had a lot of defensive lapses and couldn’t quite get the offense going in the fourth quarter,” Brennan said.

The Chargers had a strong 3-point night against Tiffin, shooting 47.6% from beyond the arc with 10 makes and holding Tiffin to 17.6% with only three makes. 

This past week, the Chargers lost 71-49 to Trevecca Nazarene despite a strong second half and a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double from junior Lauren McDonald. The team then rallied for their victory over Thomas More. 

With Mills supporting from the sidelines due to an injury, Brennan said other players like McCormick, McDonald, and Splain have stepped up to fill the void in scoring and rebounds. 

“When she’s able to come back, everyone else has stepped up their rebounding,” Brennan said. “So we won’t have to rely on her to bring in those double-doubles every game, although I’m sure she still will because that’s who she is.”

With Mills set to return as a starter this week, the Chargers now head into a three-game homestand, beginning with Malone University Jan. 17 at 5:30 p.m.

According to McDonald, the team is working to maintain strong defense and keep momentum into the fourth quarter. 

“We’re definitely focusing a lot on the defensive side because especially in the last game, our defense is what catapulted us to winning because we got the momentum going there, got steals, and got easy shots,” McDonald said. “We definitely want to keep the emphasis on the defense, but we’re going to work on playing all four quarters.”