The Hillsdale College women's basketball team avenged one of its more frustrating losses of the 2013-14 season Thursday night.
The Chargers found their offensive rhythm nicely in a high-scoring second half, defeating Lake Erie College 67-57 in Painesville, Ohio. The win gets Hillsdale back to the .500 mark for the season at 11-11, to go along with a 10-8 record in the GLIAC.
Coupled with Ashland's win over Findlay, the Chargers increased their lead in the GLIAC South Division over the Oilers to three games. The top three teams in each of the conference's divisions automatically qualify for the conference postseason tournament.
The first half was relatively low scoring and featured 19 total turnovers, as the Chargers entered intermission trailing the Storm 29-27. Junior forward Megan Fogt had been held to 6 points and 4 rebounds in the game's first 20 minutes.
A lot changed in the second half.
Hillsdale racked up 40 points in the second half, with Fogt compiling 20 points and 14 rebounds in the second half alone. She finished the game leading all players with 26 points, 18 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals while shooting 9-for-14 from the field.
Hillsdale's aggressiveness was a key to its second-half surge. The team was more active on offense in the second half, which put Lake Erie in a position where it had to foul in order to prevent the Chargers from scoring. As a result, Hillsdale was in the double bonus (10 team fouls committed by Lake Erie) with 10 minutes left in the second half.
The Chargers shot more than 20 free throws in the second half alone, and were 20-for-28 for the game from the charity stripe. Hillsdale also did a much better job of taking care of the basketball in the second half, committing just four turnovers in the game's final 20 minutes.
On the other end of the floor, Hillsdale held Lake Erie to 37 percent shooting from the field, and 4-for-17 (24 percent) from 3-point land. The Chargers outrebounded the Storm 45-32 in the win.
Three players scored nine points apiece for Hillsdale, Kelsey Cromer, Angela Bisaro and Kadie Lowery. Lowery hit a 3-point shot that was an important part of a 28-9 run by the Chargers that flipped the game midway through the second half.
Sophomore Alex Moynes also had a nice game for Hillsdale with 7 points in 5 minutes, including 5 straight late in the first half.
Hillsdale takes on defending national champion Ashland in Ohio at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Photo by Jim Drews