If you feel a little heat coming from Canton, Ohio, it's because the nets were scorching Saturday afternoon during the women's basketball game between Hillsdale College and Malone University.
The teams combined for an incredible 66 points during a wild and wooly fourth quarter. Unfortunately for the Chargers, it wasn't quite enough in a 90-82 loss to the Pioneers, dropping the team to 5-14 overall and 2-8 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Malone outscored Hillsdale 38-28 in the fourth quarter, a score that if it were a halftime score, wouldn't seem unreasonable in a normal game.
Through three quarters, this game was conventional enough, with each team going through stretches of excellent play, seizing momentum and the lead. But that fourth quarter? It was bedlam.
The Chargers held a 54-52 lead heading into the fourth quarter. That lead grew to as many as four points, 61-57, until Malone put a 13-2 run on Hillsdale to grab the lead. Leading that charge was the unconscious shooting of Holly Groff.
She scored 15 points in the fourth quarter alone, finishing with 33 for the game with nine made 3-point field goals. She knocked down shots from every angle, despite the best efforts of the Charger defense to slow her down.
Even after Malone put on that scoring burst to take the lead, Hillsdale didn't stay down. Sophomore guard Grace Touchette scored 11 of her career-high 22 points in the fourth quarter to help keep the Chargers afloat. She went 7-for-11 from the floor, making three 3-point baskets in the best scoring game of her young career.
Touchette also dished out 6 assists and had 4 rebounds in her best game of the season.
Senior center Julia Wacker also set a career-high in scoring with 18 points, to go along with 7 rebounds and 3 assists in an outstanding all-around game. Wacker also went 7-for-11 from the floor and was steady and consistent, just like she has been all season.
Senior guard Sydney Anderson's 16 points were one shy of her single-game career-high of 17, which she's hit three times this season. Freshman Sydney Mills pulled down 6 rebounds off the bench and Lauren Daffenberg added 8 points and 6 boards.
PHOTO: MaryKate Drews