The Hillsdale College women’s basketball team finished its season after tripling their win total from last season with back-to-back losses against the Tiffin University Dragons and the Ashland University Eagles.
This was the Charger’s best season in years after finishing 10th in the conference last season and 11th before that, they jumped to seventh this season. This win of a season was reflected through the large crowd at their last home game against the Dragons 52-50.
“That was the craziest game I’ve ever played–especially at Hillsdale,” senior guard Lauren Daffenberg said. “We worked so hard and asked a lot of the campus, so it’s amazing that they showed up for us. Even the day after, people told us how much fun they had at the game. Hopefully stuff like that’ll help put women’s basketball more on the map.”
Daffenberg finished her four-year career with the third-most career threes in program history, with 205. Senior guard Grace Touchette finished the season sixth on the same list
“That game was one of the best environments I’ve ever played in,” junior forward Sydney Mills said. “Any call that didn’t go our way was met with everyone yelling in the crowd. The fact that refs had to repeat calls two or three times for people on the court to hear them was insane. I couldn’t be more thankful for every person in the crowd.”
Mills finished the Tiffin game with 15 rebounds and eight points. The Chargers were led in scoring by Touchette, this season’s top scorer, with 13 points
“Offensively, Grace, even in comparison to her great plays last year, is at a whole new level,” Mills said. “She is someone we can consistently look to for a basket.”
Closely behind Touchette in scoring was junior forward Arianna Sysum with 11, and freshman guard Peighton Nelson with 10.
“I’ve got to give a huge shoutout to Arianna defensively,” Mills said. “She can guard from post players to the best point guard. Without her, there wouldn’t have been able to hold so many team’s best players under 10 points. And Peighton improved immensely this entire season. She went from being a little slow with scoring to getting double digits every game. ”
The Chargers battled the conference-leading Eagles, who are ranked fifth in the nation, two days later, losing 95-54.
“We hung pretty well with them in the first few minutes of the first quarter, and then they took off shooting wise which got hard to stop,” Mills said. “We had a hard time getting our offense off the ground without Grace.”
Touchette was injured after the Tiffin game and was unable to play against Ashland. She was replaced in the starting line up by freshman guard Dani Salenbien.
“Ashland is just a really strong team overall, but we went into it with a ‘why not us,’ mentality,” Mills said. “So, credit to them for holding us off offensively.”
Mills earned her 12th double-double of the season against Ashland. By the end of the game, she had collected 12 points and 12 rebounds.
“This season, Sydney and Grace both battled through physical inquiries and were our top scorers,” Daffenberg said. “They were always guarded by the best people from the other teams. They’re both coming back, so the team is only going to grow with that strong leadership returning.”
Daffenberg finished the game with 10 points and three rebounds. Nelson led the team in scoring with 14.
“Huge shout out to our freshmen this season,” Daffenberg said. “Peighton started every game as a freshman, which is really scary. There were times where you couldn’t tell she was so young. Both Carly and Cailtin had huge games for us off the bench, too. It’s great to see this that early.”
Players have said they have felt down since not qualifying for the tournament, but are already planning for next season.
“Obviously we’re a little bit upset with these last games, but we made really big strides in holding teams defensively,” Mills said. “Everyone individually will still have their offensive skills to hone, but building defense and cultivating a culture of hard work is what we’ll focus on going into next year.”
The team is losing two seniors this year, Daffenberg and guard Sophia Pierce.
“I wish them the very best, they both have really high aspirations,” Mills said. “Lauren is going into law school and Sophia is going to be a social worker–they’re going to help a lot of people.”
Looking back on her years as a Charger athlete, Daffenberg says she’s grateful for the people rather than the glory.
“I know there’s a family inside of the team, obviously my actual family who comes to support me, and then my Hillsdale family made up of other athletes and sorority sisters,” Daffenberg said. “Just to see all my life circles collide around one thing I do is awesome. I’m very thankful for the fans, friends, teammates, and coaches that I’ve gotten to know through this sport.”
