The Charger women's basketball team survived a rugged three-game road trip over the past week, and celebrated its return home Saturday afternoon in impressive fashion.
Playing a complete, well-balanced game, the Chargers climbed back over the .500 mark in GLIAC play with an 81-66 win over visiting Ohio Dominican University at the Hillsdale College Arena. Hillsdale is now 10-11 overall and 9-8 in the GLIAC, and remains in solid contention for a conference tournament spot.
A key to the win was a fast start by Hillsdale, who sprinted out to a 22-8 lead on the Panthers 13 minutes into the contest. The Chargers played excellent on-the-ball defense and forced a number of tough shots by ODU. Hillsdale allowed just four offensive rebounds to the Panthers in the first half, with junior Megan Fogt primarily being responsible.
Fogt grabbed 10 of her game-high 23 rebounds in the game's first nine minutes, adding to her reputation as Division II's top rebounder this year. It was her seventh 20-rebound game of the year, with four of those coming in the team's last seven games.
She wasn't bad shooting the ball either, going 9-for-10 from the field to finish with a team-best 24 points in the win. The one shot she missed, she was able to grab the offensive rebound for a score. But Fogt also had 5 assists and 4 blocked shots in a truly all-around performance. She was able to find open players on the perimeter for open shots, and her 4 blocks moved her into second place on Hillsdale's all-time blocked shots list.
Sophomore guard Ashlynn Landherr played with quickness and confidence as she scored a career-high 21 points to go along with 4 assists and 2 steals against just 2 turnovers in 38 minutes. She smartly found open spots on the floor, and her shot selection was outstanding in this game. This was the first 20-point game of her career, and she shot 7-for-11 from the floor.
Senior forward Angela Bisaro also turned in a fine all-around game with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots. All 4 of her rebounds came on the offensive end, which helped give Hillsdale extra shots at the basket, but prevented the quick ODU guards from getting out on the fast break.
On Jan. 18, the Panthers defeated the Chargers 75-56, making their latest meeting a 34-point swing in Hillsdale's favor over the first matchup.
Junior Kadie Lowery scored 11 off the bench and hit a number of timely shots that kept the Panthers outside of striking distance in the second half.
Hillsdale returns to the road next week, taking on Lake Erie College Thursday night.