The SDC Gymnasium on the campus of Michigan Tech University has not traditionally been a fun place for the Hillsdale College women's basketball team to play. But for a half, the Chargers were right at home in the great white north.
Hillsdale played an outstanding first half, leading by as many as nine late in the second quarter. But the Huskies, as they tend to do, made multiple runs in the second half, and came away with a 68-61 win over Hillsdale Thursday night in a GLIAC matchup.
The Chargers are now 7-4 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
Hillsdale rang up 22 second-quarter points to take a 38-32 lead into intermission. Leading the way in the half was sophomore guard Allie Dewire, who has flourished with increased minutes the past couple weeks. She scored 16 points, making all six of her field goal attempts in the half, just one point shy of her career high for an entire game.
But the third quarter saw Hillsdale's offense turn as cold as the weather outside. The Chargers managed to score just five points, and trailed the Huskies 45-43 at the end of three. Michigan Tech's 7-0 run to open the fourth quarter took less than three minutes, and the deficit was suddenly nine. Hillsdale kept close down the stretch, but could never cut the Husky lead to a single possession.
Dewire scored 11 more points in the fourth quarter, finishing with a career-high 27. Her point total is the most by any Charger women's basketball player since Allie Dittmer scored 29 in an overtime loss at Lake Superior State back on Feb. 6. Dewire went 10-for-13 from the floor and 7-for-10 from the free throw line, while collecting four rebounds.
Sophomore forward Makenna Ott had 10 points and seven rebounds, and Dittmer had 8 points and seven rebounds.
Hillsdale dominated the boards, outrebounding the Huskies 41-29. However, MTU held a 19-8 edge in points off turnovers and committed 10 fewer turnovers than the Chargers.
UP NEXT: Hillsdale plays at Northern Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday.