Hillsdale women’s basketball was picked sixth in preseason voting polls and is kicking off the season at a crossover tournament with University of Illinois Springfield and Purdue University Northwest Nov. 13-14.
Senior Maddy Greene said the team usually outperforms the preseason predictions and that she thinks they will make a good campaign for the Great Midwest Athletic Championship title.
“They underestimate us every year and we always end up finishing higher than before, so I’m hoping we can upset a lot of teams and prove to people that even though we have a young group, we can still get good results,” Greene said.
Hillsdale hosted Schoolcraft College for an exhibition match Nov. 4, defeating the Ocelots 79-47.
Nine of the team’s 16 players are underclassmen. The team welcomed four freshmen and one transfer, sophomore Jasmine Becotte.
The Chargers finished the 2025-2026 season with a 15-12 overall record and 11-9 in conference. They were fifth in the G-MAC final standings.
Senior Savannah Smith averaged 13.1 points per game last season and is the team’s leading returning scorer. Junior Ellie Bruce led with an average of 6.8 rebounds per game, and junior Sarah Aleknavicius led the assist category with an average of 3.1 per game.
Several returning players have been unable to participate in preseason practice due to injuries, but it’s pushed Becotte and the freshmen to step up into their roles on the team, according to senior Sydney Pnacek.
“It’s been a blessing in disguise, where they’ve been forced to learn the system a little bit more quickly than they would have had to otherwise,” Pnacek said. “It’s been good for them to mesh and get to know all of us and play with all of us a bit.”
Since Oct. 5, the team has spent around 20 hours a week practicing, lifting, and watching film, according to head coach Brianna (Brennan) Schepel. The Chargers also played Purdue University Fort Wayne and Hope College in preseason scrimmages.
“It’s been really fun to work on the foundations of our defense and really hone in on some of the key parts,” Schepel said. “We want to have aggressive ball pressure. We play more of a gap defense, so rotating well and helping out each other well has been awesome to put in place.”
Schepel said the team has also revamped its offense to rely on more of the players’ strengths.
Greene and Pnacek both said that the team’s culture has grown throughout their time playing at Hillsdale and that players keep each other accountable through “horizontal leadership.”
“The whole concept of horizontal leadership is for all of us to have a voice and hold each other accountable because it doesn’t need to only ever come from the top,” Pnacek said. “It becomes less like a dictatorship. If every piece is bought into the system, that’s the only way it’s going to succeed, and that’s very much reflected in the way we play, too.”
A strong culture is what makes a team succeed, according to Schepel.
“When adversity comes and things come our way during games, maybe we’re down 10 points and we’re coming back, it’s going to allow them to stay close-knit and stay tight on the court, and give us the edge over other teams who don’t care for each other that well,” Schepel said.
