Playing at a fast pace, mixed in with intelligent movement, with and without the ball, the Charger women's basketball team rediscovered its winning ways in the GLIAC and home opener Thursday night.
Eight players scored five or more points as Hillsdale defeated Tiffin University 81-68 at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena to improve to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the GLIAC.
This was the first chance for the home crowd to not only get a look at first-year head coach Todd Mitmesser and three new players, but also the new NCAA women's basketball format of four 10-minute quarters. The Chargers outscored the Dragons in each of the first three quarters, while playing disciplined defense from start to finish.
Tiffin attempted (and made) just eight free throws as a team, while Hillsdale took 30 shots from the charity stripe, making 19 of them, for a big 11-point scoring edge in that part of the game. Much of that difference came from the Chargers showing good spacing on defense, mastering the elusive basketball skill of defending without fouling.
Hillsdale also dominated the boards, outrebounding Tiffin 49-27 in the game, its most one-sided margin of the season. The Chargers had 18 offensive rebounds compared to 6 for the Dragons, giving the home team a much greater margin of error.
One of the team's newest players had a solid home debut. Freshman forward Makenna Ott looked comfortable and confident at both ends, finishing with 12 points, 3 assists and a steal in 15 minutes of play. It was the second time in five games she's cracked double digits in scoring to open her career.
Sophomore center Allie Dittmer led the team with 13 points and 7 rebounds while blocking 2 shots. She was able to get consistently good position in the low post and her teammates did a good job of finding her with low post passes.
Senior Kayla Geffert tossed in 10 points, while junior guard Morgan Blair had 9 points, including a buzzer-beating layup to end the first half.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: The Chargers blocked 5 shots to 0 for Tiffin, with two each from Ott and Dittmer…Freshmen Allie Dewire and Brittany Gray scored their first career home points in the win…The Chargers shot 4-for-20 from 3-point land.
UP NEXT: Hillsdale hosts Ohio Dominican at 1 p.m. Saturday.
PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Klopfer