In recent weeks, the Charger women's basketball team had been playing better and better, coming agonizingly close to wins on more than one occasion.
Thursday night, that W finally came.
Putting together a strong game on the defensive end of the floor was a key for Hillsdale's 61-45 victory over Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. The win makes the Chargers 6-14 overall and 3-9 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
The 3-point shots were falling for Hillsdale in the first half, and they ended up coming in bunches to help the team break the game open. A 12-0 run covered the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter.
Senior Sydney Anderson got the run started with a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in the first to give Hillsdale a 15-10 lead.
The Chargers' first three made field goals of the second quarter were all 3-pointers, made by Anderson (2) and Lauren Daffenberg to blow the game open.
As good as Hillsdale's shooting was during that stretch, its defense was better. The Chargers held the Trojans to just five second-quarter points. In that quarter, Trevecca went 2-for-18 from the field (11 percent). The Trojans grabbed offensive rebounds on six of those 16 misses, but Hillsdale yielded just two second-chance points, a statement to the team's defensive tenacity during that quarter.
Trevecca outscored Hillsdale in the third and fourth quarters, but those margins weren't nearly enough to cut into the Chargers' 20-point halftime lead.
Anderson led four players in double figures with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists, draining three 3-point baskets. Daffenberg scored 12 with 5 rebounds and 2 assists while Sydney Mills and Grace Touchette each scored 10. Mills recorded another double-double with 10 rebounds, 6 of them coming in the first quarter.
PHOTO: Jim Drews