The Wayne State University women's basketball team played every bit like the GLIAC's number one seed Wednesday night.
Playing with fire, athleticism and execution from start to finish, the Warriors ended Hillsdale College's season in a 75-60 win at the Matthaie Gymnasium in Detroit. Hillsdale's season ends with a 12-15 overall record.
The Warriors entered the tournament having lost four of its last six, but that sure wasn't evident in this game, as the team played with energy, boosted by a big and loud home crowd. Wayne State did a good job of finishing its shots close to the basket, and featured a diverse offense that kept the Chargers from being able to keep its brief first-half lead.
A key stretch occurred midway through the first half. Wayne State center Shareta Brown got into a collision with Hillsdale's Chelsea Farrell, and Brown left the game, appearing to be favoring one of her legs. Hillsdale led the game 16-15 at the time, and the opportunity appeared ripe for the Chargers to take advantage of the Warriors being without the GLIAC's leading scorer in the regular season.
However, Wayne State flipped the game and seized momentum, going on a 28-10 run over the half's final 10 minutes to build up to a 43-26 lead at halftime.
Wayne State kept up its strong play to start the second half, and led by as many as 28 points until the Chargers closed the gap late.
The game was the final one of this historic season for Hillsdale College junior forward Megan Fogt, who certainly made her case for greater individual honors, hopefully to come. She made 9 of her first 10 shots of the game and finished leading all scorers with 25 points and 14 rebounds on 11-for-16 shooting from the floor. Fogt was active around the basket and was able to convert most of her shots inside the paint and even drained a couple from near the 3-point line.
Hillsdale shot 38 percent from the field in the game, and was outrebounded 41-36 by the Warriors. Wayne State shot 49 percent from the floor, which ultimately turned out to be the difference in this game.