A huge halftime lead held up, as the Hillsdale College women's basketball team got back on the winning side of the ledger Thursday night.
The Chargers put together their best half of the season in the first 20 minutes of their 74-63 win over Ferris State University in Big Rapids. The win makes Hillsdale 10-14 overall and 7-13 in the GLIAC on the season.
Hillsdale shot 54 percent from the field and more than doubled the Bulldogs on the glass in building a 46-21 lead at intermission. After FSU scored the opening basket of the game, Hillsdale immediately went on an 11-0 run to take a commanding lead in the first few moments of the first quarter.
The team didn't look back from there, playing and executing at the pace first-year coach Todd Mitmesser has envisioned for his young squad. The Chargers had double-digit scoring advantages in each of the first two quarters, building their biggest halftime lead in more than six years.
In the second half, Ferris State started to knock some shots down, and eventually cut the lead down to as low as nine in the fourth quarter. But seniors Sarah Theut and Madison Berry stopped the bleeding by picking up key points down the stretch that restored Hillsdale's double-digit lead.
Theut had a nice game for Hillsdale, picking up 7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists in 26 minutes. Berry was also very effective in 22 minutes off the bench, scoring 11 points while making all four of her free throws. Theut and Berry will be among six seniors honored on Saturday, on the occasion of the final home game of their careers.
The Chargers' deep group of underclassmen took turns making big plays and scoring key baskets all night. Sophomore center Allie Dittmer was 8-for-11 from the floor and led the team with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Twelve of her points came in the decisive first half.
Freshman guard Allie Dewire scored a career-high 14 points, but just as important as the number of points was the way she scored them. Jump shots, layups and fast break points were all in her repertoire Thursday night. Freshman Makenna Ott also scored 14 while collecting 8 rebounds.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Hillsdale's 25-point halftime lead was its largest in a road GLIAC game since Feb. 12, 2005, when it led Wayne State by 25 in Detroit…Theut has played 55 minutes in her last two games, the most minutes she's played in back-to-back games in her career…The Chargers scored a season-high 27 fast break points, all of them coming in the game's first three quarters…This was Hillsdale's last-ever regular season GLIAC trip to Ferris State; the teams will play once next season, in Hillsdale, before the Chargers move on to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2017-18.
UP NEXT: Hillsdale hosts Grand Valley State at 1:00 Saturday in the final home game of the season.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jim Drews