Senior guard Morgan Blair celebrated her 22nd birthday in style Saturday afternoon.
Blair dished out a career-high five assists to go along with a season-high 13 points in leading the Charger women's basketball team to a 72-63 win over Lake Superior State at the Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. The win makes Hillsdale 9-6 overall and 3-5 in the GLIAC.
Blair played a smart, aggressive game from the outset, and was a steadying influence on the team, helping it to not only build a lead, but to hold off the Lakers when the game tightened in the second half.
As a team, the Chargers did a nice job of balancing aggression with smarts at both ends of the court. The team committed just 10 turnovers while forcing the Lakers to cough it up 21 times. At the other end, Hillsdale played quick and positionally sound defense, allowing LSSU to the free throw line for just six attempts in the entire game. The Chargers enjoyed a 10-point advantage in free throw-line scoring in the win.
Hillsdale was also plus-10 on the offensive boards, which helped result in the team getting 12 more field goal attempts in the game. Even that margin is deceiving, when the team's 26 free throw attempts are factored in.
Four players scored in double figures for the Chargers, led by 19 from sophomore guard Allie Dewire. She went 9-for-10 from the free throw line and used her speed to her advantage in both half court and transition situations.
Sophomore forward Makenna Ott added 18 points and four rebounds in an excellent performance. Junior center Allie Dittmer added 10 points and nine rebounds, with six boards coming on the offensive end.