With a leading offensive performance by junior Lauren McDonald and a new face in the starting lineup, the Chargers outscored Ursuline College by 13 points in the second half for a 61-50 road win Feb. 3.
The Hillsdale women’s basketball team emerged from the weekend 11-9 overall and 7-5 in the G-MAC, solidifying its hold on the eighth spot in the conference. Ursuline ranked second in the G-MAC going into the contest but dropped to fourth with the loss.
“Since we had already beat three teams that were ranked higher than us, our mindset was pretty simple: let’s add a fourth team to that list,” head coach Brianna Brennan said. “Our players were hungry for it and a recurring theme for us this year has been resilience, which was shown throughout the Ursuline game.”
McDonald led the offensive effort on Saturday, scoring 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half.
The Chargers led by as many as 13 in the contest, but that lead was cut to just three with 4:30 left in the fourth quarter. McDonald stepped up and put in a personal 7-0 run to stretch out the Chargers’ lead in the fourth quarter.
“Lauren is an absolute playmaker,” Brennan said. “She’s a high-level player that has a scoring mentality. We know we can count on her when we need a bucket and always feel confident when the ball is in her hands. She can score from all three levels, so once she gets going it’s extremely hard to stop her.”
The Chargers dominated Ursuline on both ends of the floor.
According to senior Sydney Mills, the team put an emphasis on defending against twins Madison and Michaela Cloonan on the Ursuline team.
“Especially Michaela, Kendall McCormick did a really good job of just frustrating her the whole game and not making anything easy,” Mills said. “Our defense makes our offense flow, and that’s kind of what makes our offense flow.”
In a show of its team defense, Hillsdale held Ursuline to 28.8% field goal percentage and 7-26 in 3-pointers. Hillsdale also won the rebound battle, grabbing 42 rebounds for the Arrows’ 36.
“Heading into the game really emphasized controlling the defensive end and winning the battle of the boards,” Brennan said. “Ursuline is one of the best rebounding teams, as are we, so we knew we had to come out on top. If we focused on the defensive end and took care of the boards, we knew we’d like the outcome.”
With leading scorer junior Caitlin Splain out with an injury, freshman Annalise Pietrzyk made her first career start for the Chargers and added 10 points and five rebounds.
“It was a little nerve wracking,” Pietrzyk said, “but I also talked to my coaches, and they were like ‘we don’t expect anything different, just play the way you’ve been playing.’ And I was mostly excited to have the opportunity to do that.”
In a huge play, Pietrzyk sank back-to-back 3-point shots to put the Chargers within three points of the Arrows at the end of the first quarter.
“I am so proud of Annalise,” Brennan said. “She is a fierce competitor with a high basketball IQ. She is always making great decisions on the offensive end and can lock up anyone defensively. She was already playing extremely valuable minutes for us, but it was exciting to see her step into that starting roll when we needed her too.”
Senior Ashley Konkle also added six points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Chargers, Mills fell just short of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds, and freshman Savannah Smith chipped in seven points off the bench.
The Chargers will be on the road this week, facing Walsh University on Feb. 8 and Lake Erie College Feb. 10.