Twenty-four turnovers and a huge scoring deficit at the free throw line were a bad combination for the Hillsdale College women's basketball team Saturday afternoon.
The Chargers lost in their final regular season game 81-55 to the University of Findlay in Ohio. Hillsdale now enters the conference tournament with a 16-10 overall record and 14-8 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
Hillsdale is the #5 seed in next week's conference tournament, and will square off with #4 seed Ursuline College at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 1 at Cedarville University.
The Chargers found themselves in a hole early in the game, trailing the Oilers 19-10 after one quarter. That deficit remained the same heading into halftime, but Findlay had another nine-point scoring edge in the third quarter to build a deep double digit lead, and never looked back.
Hillsdale turned the ball over 24 times in the game compared to 11 for Findlay, and as a result, were outscored by the Oilers 32-11 in points off turnovers.
Although Hillsdale held Findlay to 44 percent shooting from the floor, the Oilers made 82 percent of their free throws. But more than the percentage was the margin. Findlay outscored Hillsdale 18-1 from the foul line, as the Chargers only took two free throws in the entire game, making one. Findlay was 18-for-22 from the charity stripe.
Findlay was also active defensively, swiping 13 steals, more than half of Hillsdale's 24 turnovers in the game.
Junior Brittany Gray led Hillsdale with 11 points, while adding 6 rebounds to her 27-minute effort. Junior Allie Dewire had 10 points and 6 rebounds, while Makenna Ott had 8.