Box Score
January 24, 2012 - A long stretch of six road games out of seven in the new year came to an end Thursday night for the Hillsdale College women's basketball team.
Taking on GLIAC newcomer Malone Unviersity for the first time in a conference game, the Chargers came out on the short end of a 75-60 decision in Canton, Ohio Thursday night. Hillsdale will finally get back to playing some home games this weekend, as the team hosst Walsh University at 3 p.m.
The Chargers are now 6-10 overall and 3-10 in the GLIAC, while Malone is 10-7 overall.
Malone took control of the contest from the outset, and shot an amazing 74 percent from the field in the first half, which mirrored just how the men's game between these two schools played out. The Oioneers held a 43-30 lead at halftime, and although the Chargers fought back hard in the second half - cutting the lead to as low as three on one occasions - the Pioneers pulled away in the game's final minutes.
Malone made five out of six shots in one stretch and finished the game on a 21-9 run to make the final score seem more one-sided than the contest appeared, particularly in the second half.
Hillsdale did get a handful of strong performances in the loss, starting with freshman Kayla Geffert, who put together the best game of her young career.
She scored 14 of her career-high 17 points in the first half, and went 5-for-10 from the floor. She also had four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Geffert, who has started the team's last four games, broke out offensively in this one.
Junior forward Allyson Lloyd provided the team a nice spark during its second half comeback. She equaled her scoring output for the entire season in this one game with six points. She also had two rebounds and a steal, as her hustle and strength helped swing the game's momentum temporarily in Hillsdale's favor.
Sophomore forward Megan Fogt turned in another tough game in the paint with 15 points, eight rebounds and one blocked shot, while making seven of her 11 shots from the field. Freshman Sarah Theut dished out a career-high four assists, and had four rebounds.
The Chargers went just 4-for-22 in their 3-point shooting in the game, while Malone went to the free throw line 12 more times than the visitors.