The 40-minute fast break game plan employed by the Hillsdale College women's basketball team is a great success, at least through the season's opening weekend.
Playing at a frantic pace, with frequent mass substitutions to keep up that pace, the Chargers attacked their foes from the GLVC all weekend, and they are sporting a 2-0 record as a result. Saturday afternoon, Hillsdale defeated host McKendree 71-59 in Lebanon, Illinois to finish off a solid opening weekend.
Hillsdale next plays an exhibition game at Eastern Michigan at 7:00 Tuesday.
The Chargers went right after the Bearcats, sparked by Kayla Geffert's 12 first-quarter points, taking the lead immediately. Hillsdale's lead went from 4 to 11 by halftime and the team did a good job of countering a third-quarter run by the Bearcats to close out the win with an 18-10 fourth-quarter scoring advantage.
Three players cracked double figure scoring for Hillsdale, led by Geffert's 12. Senior Kelsey Cromer had 11 points, highlighted by three 3-pointers, while senior Sarah Theut added 10 points and 2 steals in just 19 minutes. The Chargers grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, four coming to sophomore guard Maddy Reed.
Freshman Brittany Gray added 8 points and 4 rebounds, while Geffert led the team with 6 boards. Senior Madison Berry had 4 points and a team-high 4 assists.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Chargers have forced 27 turnovers in each of their first two games, but cut down on their own turnovers from game one to game two, 27 to 18…Hillsdale has 32 steals as a team through the season's first two games…This was Sarah Theut's first double-digit scoring game since Jan. 25, 2014.
PHOTO CREDIT: Anders Kiledal