Junior Kendall McCormick had 11 points in two games. Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department
In one of its best offensive performances of the season, the women’s basketball team dominated Cedarville University 86-62 at home on Thursday before falling to top-ranked Ashland University 90-59 on Saturday.
Hillsdale’s five-game win streak ended with the loss but the team still holds the seventh spot in the G-MAC with a record of 14-6 overall and 10-6 in G-MAC play.
The Chargers established an edge early against Cedarville, outscoring the Yellowjackets 27-13 in the second quarter to take a 21-point lead into the second half.
Eleven players scored for Hillsdale in the contest, including 42 points from bench players. Although the Chargers went 3-13 from beyond the arc, they made up for it from close by scoring 60 points in the paint and outrebounding Cedarville 53-25.
The team’s ability to share the ball led to their victory, according to sophomore Payton Adkins.
“We have been working on connecting with each other and ball movement on a whole new level than when we started back in October,” Adkins said. “We’re seeing all sides of the floors and hitting everyone until we get that lapse in the defense and are able to get the shot we want. It also helps that our team has such great chemistry and energy that it carries our offense and defense throughout the game.”
Though Hillsdale held Cedarville to a 33.9% shooting percentage, head coach Brianna Brennan said the team struggled defensively.
“We weren’t very disciplined and really reverted back to some bad old habits of ours,” Brennan said. “We did get a lot of stops, but it was without the urgency that we normally have so that wasn’t ideal. We’re nearing tournament time, so this is a point where we have to fine tune the things we’re good at in order to play as long as we can in March.”
Five players scored in the double-digits on Thursday.
Adkins set a personal best with 10 points, four rebounds, and four assists. Junior Lauren McDonald led the team with a 16 point, 13 rebound double-double, and senior Sydney Mills added 10 points and eight rebounds in only 14 minutes of play. Senior center Olivia Patch tied her career high with 11 points in the contest.
Despite a game-high 21 points from McDonald, Hillsdale could not keep up with defending national champion Ashland University in the senior day game on Saturday.
“They are a really great team and we knew we had everything to gain from just trying to leave everything we had out on the court,” junior Caitlin Splain said. “One of the biggest things we can take away from that game is to not be threatened by who we are playing and play basketball at the level we know we are capable of.”
Ashland shot 10-for-18 from deep in the first half on their way to a 25-point halftime lead. The Eagles finished the night shooting 52.9% from the floor and 41.4% from deep.
Brennan said she challenged her team at halftime to continue to battle Ashland regardless of the score.
“I was very proud of our girls fight in the second half,” Brennan said. “Possession by possession we did a much better job defensively, and our offense started to look more fluid too.”
Hillsdale celebrated its three seniors Dani Hohlbein, Mills, and Patch.
Behind McDonald, junior Kendall McCormick contributed seven points, four rebounds, and four assists in the contest, and freshman Savannah Smith added six points and four rebounds.
The Chargers will be on the road this week to face Ohio Dominican tonight at 5:30 p.m. and Findlay on Saturday at 1 p.m.
Adkins said the team is continuing to hone in on its defense in preparation for the final games of the regular season.
“We want to be playing our best basketball come tournament time,” Adkins said. “So to do that we have been really honing in on defense: applying ball pressure, preventing middle drives, good closeouts. All the things that we need to be able to do at a high level to compete at a high level and advance.”
