The 2017-18 season ended on a very high note for the Hillsdale College women's basketball team. The Chargers hoisted the Great Midwest Athletic Conference tournament trophy and qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament.
The 2018-19 season is getting started in a big way too.
The Chargers will head to the Breslin Center to face Michigan State University in an exhibition game set for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Thursday, November 1. This marks the first time in at least a dozen years Hillsdale has played a Big Ten team in an exhibition contest and the first time it's faced a Power 5 program since the University of Notre Dame in 2007.
Ticket information will be added to this story once it's been made avaialble.
Hillsdale head coach Matt Fritsche said this game is an ideal way to kick off the new season, his second in the head coach's chair.
"It's an unbelievable opportunity for our players to play in a great venue against one of the best teams in the country," he said. "We're just going to go up there and enjoy the experience."
Playing in the Breslin Center is nothing new for several players on the 2018-19 Charger squad. Makenna Ott, Brittany Gray and Jaycie Burger all played in Michigan high school state championship games on that court, with Gray (2014, 2015) and Burger (2016, 2017) each winning championships there. Hillsdale returns three starters and seven of its top nine players from last year's conference championship team.
The Chargers open the 2018-19 regular season at home, hosting Lewis and the University of Indianapolis as part of a four-team GLIAC-GLVC-G-MAC Crossover Tournament Nov. 10 and 11.