Courtesy: Ashley Van Hoose

The Chargers came from behind to defeat Lake Erie College 62-55, with juniors Savannah Smith and Annalise Pietrzyk scoring 25 points apiece on Feb. 12, before losing at Ashland University 65-53 Feb. 14.

With the split, the Chargers’ record moved to 13-9 overall and 9-7 in conference play.

Hillsdale trailed Lake Erie 46-40 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and was down by as many as 9 points before outscoring the Storm 22-9 in the final frame. The Chargers went on a 13-0 run in the final 3:35 of the game.

“The fight we showed in the fourth quarter really showed our grit and belief in each other as a team,” head coach Brianna Brennan said. “It wasn’t our best performance, but we dug down when we needed to and battled until the very last possession.”

Smith and Pietrzyk combined to score more than 80% of the Chargers’ points. Smith added eight rebounds and two steals, and Pietrzyk added five rebounds and three steals. Senior Emma Ruhlman contributed nine rebounds and seven assists.

“Teams have been guarding Annalise tighter, and she’s been doing a great job of making everyone around her better and finding the right looks for our team,” sophomore Sarah Aleknavicius said. “Savannah has been a key to our recent success.”

Smith’s performance against Lake Erie marked her third 25-point performance in the last seven games.

“When I’m attacking, I do my best to get my defender off balance so that I can score easily around them,” Smith said.   

As a team, the Chargers had 17 assists, nine steals, and only eight turnovers. Hillsdale held the Storm to just 28% shooting in the second half.

The Chargers sought a second victory against Ashland and led the Eagles 30-29 before being outscored 36-23 in the second half.

“We out-rebounded them, and they are a strong rebounding team, so we are definitely holding onto that positive,” Brennan said. “We will learn and get better from it as we get closer to tournament play.” 

In just her fifth game since returning from an injury, Aleknavicius led the Chargers against the Eagles with 11 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. Smith added 11 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Emilia Sularski contributed 11 points, and sophomore Ellie Bruce added 7 points and eight rebounds.

“I think it has been challenging mentally, coming back from injury and thinking I’m not where I left off, so just seeing the ball go through the hoop during the game and getting that aggressive mindset back will help me personally and our team’s success,” Aleknavicius said.

Hillsdale enters the final two weeks of the regular season in eighth place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Chargers, who are undefeated at home, will play three of their last four games of the season at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena.

“We have four crucial games left, all with teams around us in the standings, so winning these will set us up well in the tournament,” Aleknavicius said.   

The Chargers play Kentucky Wesleyan College at home Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m., and then travel to play at Ohio Dominican University Feb. 21.

“We will need to be ready to execute each game plan and show up as our best in order to take care of business,” Brennan said.