The Hillsdale College women’s basketball team was painfully reminded that a game is never decided until the final buzzer sounds.
The Chargers suffered a devastating loss to the Lake Erie College Storm last night, 66-64.
Assistant coach Stephanie Schell said the Chargers played much better in this contest than in their first meeting on Dec. 3
“The first time we played Lake Erie, we didn’t have our identity. We hadn’t fully developed our strengths,” Schell said. “This was a totally different game.”
After being behind for the majority of the second half, and even trailing by five with 40 seconds to go, the Storm came roaring back at the end, taking advantage of some key rebounds and free throws to win by two.
“[W]e knew about their 3-point shooters and what their posts could do,” Schell said. “We felt more confident about our scouting report, but in the end, we got caught back on our heels and you just can’t do that.”
The Chargers came into last night’s battle with Lake Erie riding a wave of momentum. They had won their previous three contests, all at home.
Last weekend, the Chargers pulled out key victories against visiting Northern Michigan University (68-62) and Michigan Technological University (82-77).
On Saturday, the Chargers clenched a thrilling, high-scoring victory over nationally-ranked No. 25 Michigan Tech. Both teams shot above 45 percent from the field. Seven players scored in the double digits. As the final minutes of the game wound down, a roaring student section cheered the team on to a nail-biting win.
Junior Lea Jones, point guard, made two free throws with 2:44 remaining to put the Chargers within one point of the Huskies. Almost a minute later, sophomore Angela Bisaro made a layup to bring the Chargers up by one, which secured the lead for the remainder of the game. However, there was still almost two minutes left in regulation and the outcome of the game was still up in the air.
“We knew they were a scoring team,” Schell said. “You will not find a more fundamentally-sound team out there.”
It was excellent team defense and a key steal by Jones that would secure the Charger victory. Jones stole the ball with ten seconds left, was fouled, and sunk both free throws. After Hillsdale got the rebound from the Huskies’ missed 3-point attempt, sophomore Marissa DeMott was fouled and made both shots, giving Hillsdale an 82-77 victory.
“We were scoring as much as they were, so we knew that defense would win the game,” Schell said. “We told this to the girls at our last timeout, and we came out and were the aggressors defensively.”
Two days earlier, Hillsdale beat the Wildcats of Northern Michigan. After fighting off the Wildcats for much of the first half, the Chargers capitalized off their five-point halftime lead and came out with a six-point win.
Hillsdale lost their one-point lead about halfway through the first half, but climbed their way back to the top before the first buzzer sounded with a 3-pointer from freshman Abbey Lovat and a layup by Jones. They carried that energy with them into the locker room and then the second half.
“In the locker room, we talked about coming together on defense,” said senior captain Kaite Bildner. “As individuals, we had been playing well, but we needed to control the middle as a team. Once we did that, we were able to come together and win.”
Senior captain Chelsea Harrison led the team with 22 points, while Jones added 19 and senior captain Liz Brannick contributed 12. Jones also had the game-high 9 rebounds. The Chargers had three times as many steals as the Wildcats, and outshot them by 20 percent from the 3-point line.
The Chargers begin a three-game road-trip on Saturday as they face the Timberwolves of Northwood University. The team will then head to Ohio next week for games against Ohio Dominican University and Tiffin University.
