As the disappointment of the final score of Thursday's women's basketball game betweeen Hillsdale College and Malone University settled in, the Chargers got some good news from elsewhere in Ohio.
The Chargers were able to maintain their two-game lead on Findlay in the GLIAC South Division thanks to the Oilers' 86-83 loss to Walsh Thursday night. That means any combination of one win by Hillsdale or one loss by Findlay in the season's final two games will clinch a GLIAC Tournament berth for the Chargers.
Hillsdale, now 11-13 on the season, closes out the campaign with two games at home, the first coming up Saturday against Walsh. The program will honor its three graduating seniors as part of a pregame ceremony before tipping off against the Cavaliers.
In Thursday's loss to the Pioneers in Canton, Hillsdale found itself trailing most of the game, but made several valiant comeback efforts. Malone jumped out to a 15-point lead early in the second half, only to see the Chargers go on a 25-10 run to eventually tie the game at 56 after a steal-and-layup conversion by sophomore guard Kelsey Cromer.
But Malone answered back with a 7-0 run of its own to take the lead for good.
The Pioneers did a good job of forcing turnovers, and taking advantage of them. Malone built a 39-29 halftime lead largely thanks to a 12-0 edge in points off turnovers in the game's first 20 minutes. Hillsdale narrowed that down a bit in the second half, but not quite enough to get over the hump and into the lead.
Junior forward Megan Fogt had a nice bounce-back game, leading the team with 20 points and 18 rebounds on 8-for-14 shooting from the field. In last Saturday's game at Ashland, she was held to season-lows in points and rebounds, but responded in a big way in this contest.
The Chargers got a boost from junior guard Brooke Borowski, who finished with 15 points in 19 minutes. An aggressive, offensively skilled guard, Borowski missed five weeks with an injury, but showed signs of her old self in this game, taking the ball hard to the basket (6-for-6 from the free throw line) while making three 3-point field goals.
Junior Kadie Lowery had 12 points while senior forward Angela Bisaro pulled down 9 rebounds for the Chargers.