A long scoring run that spanned the third and fourth quarters propelled the Charger women's basketball team to its fourth win in a row Thursday night.
Hillsdale performed at a high level in nearly every aspect of the game in earning an 81-69 win over host Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio. Hillsdale is now 12-11 overall and 10-7 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play.
Typically, a team goes into any game hoping to do a good job of shooting or rebounding the basketball. The Chargers did both, crushing the Arrows on the boards 45-26 while shooting 50 percent from the field for the game (33-for-66). But out of those 33 missed field goals, Hillsdale grabbed a total of 16 offensive rebounds, an outstanding percentage.
Leading the way to this key road victory was the senior trimverate of Makenna Ott, Allie Dewire and Brittany Gray. Just as coaches hope teams can shoot and rebound well, they hope their seniors step forward with production and leadership on the road, and Ott, Dewire and Gray would all earn A+ grades for their play in this contest.
They combined to score 59 points, shooting a nifty 25-for41 from the field. Twenty-five made field goals in a game is a good number for any team, let alone coming from just three players, but all three played very smart basketball games, shooting from a variety of spots on the floor and moving without the ball effectively.
Gray finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds, going 9-for-16 from the field with four made 3-point field goals. Ott also notched a double-double, compiling 21 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 9-for-14 from the field. Dewire played another great game from her point guard position, hitting 7-of-11 shots to score 16 points with 7 assists and 2 steals.
Hillsdale grabbed an early 10-4 lead, but Ursuline put together an 18-3 run to take control in a time span from late in the first quarter to the start of the second. The Arrows led by as many as 9 points early in the second quarter, but the Chargers closed out the half on a 7-2 run to tie it up at 33 at intermission.
Ursuline scored the first five points of the second half, but Hillsdale ended the third quarter on a 23-12 scoring run to take a 56-50 lead. That momentum swept hard into the fourth quarter, as the Chargers scored 11 of the first 13 points to extend their lead to 15.
In that fourth quarter, just 6 of Hillsdale's 25 points were scored in the paint, an example of the terrific shooting display the team put on.
PHOTO: Todd Lancaster