A solid road trip to Tennessee and Kentucky last week that included the team's second win of the season has the Hillsdale College women's basketball team on the upswing as they return home this weekend.
If the Chargers can have a successful homestand, that could give them the momentum needed to potentially challenge for a G-MAC tournament berth down the stretch.
It won't be easy against a Lake Erie team that took G-MAC leader Cedarville to the wire on Thursday and an Ohio Dominican team that boasts one of the most potent offenses in the conference, but the opportunity is there for the Chargers after last week's victory.
While complying with MDHHS orders, Hillsdale College is now allowing a limited number of fans to attend games at Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena for the remainder of the season. You can find more details at this link, and you can also find links to ticket pages for each game below. Tickets will not go on sale until 24 hours before tip-off of each game, and each ticket is only good for the women's game on that day. A separate ticket will have to be purchased to attend the men's game following the women's contest.
You can also follow along with all the action on the Great Midwest Digital Network. Links to both live stats and the streaming webcast for each game are below.
Schedule
Lake Erie (0-9, 0-9 G-MAC) at Hillsdale (2-9, 2-9 G-MAC) | 5:3 p.m. ET Thursday, Jan. 28 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Ohio Dominican (7-3, 7-3 G-MAC) at Hillsdale (2-9, 2-9 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Jan. 30 | | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
Follow/Watch
Live Stats vs Lake Erie | Webcast vs Lake Erie | Tickets vs Lake Erie | Live Stats vs ODU | Webcast vs ODU | Tickets vs ODU
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Lake Erie Roster | ODU Roster | 2020-21 Hillsdale Stats | 2020-21 Lake Erie Stats | 2020-21 ODU Stats
Projected Starters
Hillsdale: #2 Dani Salenbien, Fr., G, Adrian, MI/Lenawee Christian (5.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.8 apg); #22 Grace Touchette, Jr., G, Northfield, MN/Northfield (14.8 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.6 apg); #3 Jaycie Burger, Sr., G, Pittsford, MI/Pittsford (9 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.6 apg); #5 Sydney Mills, So., F, DeWitt, MI/DeWitt (11.5 ppg, 10.9 rpg); #15 Arianna Sysum, So., F, Eaton Rapids, MI/Eaton Rapids (9.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1 bpg)
Lake Erie: #32 Breanna Bauer, Sr., F, Port Huron, MI/Northern (8.8 ppg, 4.8 rpg); #10 Lauren Flannery, So., G, Hannibal, OH/River (7.9 ppg, 2.6 rpg); #13 Sydney Wyngarden, So., G, Hilliard, OH/ Hilliard Darby (11.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.4 apg, 1 bpg); #1 Lainey Billing, Jr., G, Columbus, OH, Bishop Watterson (8.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg); #31 Angela Fink, So., G, Brunswick, OH/Brunswick (4.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.7 apg)
Ohio Dominican: #12 Angela Troyer, Sr., G, Sugarcreek, OH, Berlin Hiland (20.9 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.8 apg, 2 spg); #10 Kennedy Schlabach, Jr., G, Millersburg, OH/Berlin Hiland (20.6 ppg, 6.1 apg, 1.4 spg); #22 Gabby Stare, Fr., G, Newark, OH/Newark (13.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.8 apg); #30 Alli Kern, Jr., G, Waterford, OH/Waterford (5.1 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.7 spg); #24 Olivia Fox, Sr., F, Newark, OH/Newark (11.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 2.2 apg)
Scouting the Opposition
Lake Erie: A young team, the Storm have had a rough 2020-21 season so far, starting 0-9 and struggling offensively.
But Lake Erie has improved as of late, and nearly pulled the upset of the season last Saturday in a narrow 58-55 home loss to G-MAC leader Cedarville. A major bright spot for the Storm has been the play of sophomore guard Sydney Wyngarden, who is leading the team in scoring and assists in an expanded role from her freshman season.
The Storm have been decent defensively, sitting at seventh in the G-MAC in scoring defense at 78.8 points conceded a game, but Lake Erie needs significantly more offensively, averaging a league-worst 56.6 points per game in eight contests to date.
Finding a way to get senior forward Breanna Bauer, who is averaging 8.8 points per game in 2020-21, back on track could go a long way. The senior averaged 16.4 points per game in 2019-20 and has all-conference level talent.
Lake Erie is coached by Mackenzie Perttu, who is entering her second season in charge after leading the Storm to a 10-19 record and a G-MAC tournament berth in 2019-20. Prior to taking over, Perttu was an assistant with Lake Erie, following a successful college basketball career at Michigan Tech.
Ohio Dominican: The Panthers are one of the biggest surprises in the G-MAC this season. Having initially been picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches poll, the Panthers are currently tied for second place and are the only team to have beaten current G-MAC leader Cedarville this season.
ODU's hot start is in large part due to the emergence of lead guard Angela Troyer, an All-G-MAC player last season who was the second option behind graduated senior Alexa Fisher. In Fisher's absence, Troyer has emerged as a conference player of the year contender, averaging 20.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
It's not just Troyer, as guards Kennedy Schlabach (20.6 ppg) and Gabby Stare (13.9 ppg) give the Panhers one of the most lethal perimeter trios in the entire conference. At 82.8 points per game, ODU has one of the best offenses in the G-MAC, though a defense giving up 75.6 points per game has been a concern.
Ohio Dominican is coached by Lynsey Warren, who's had an accomplished nine-year run leading the Panthers, including three seasons of 18 or more wins in the last five campaigns.
Scouting the Chargers
Hillsdale split a weekend road trip to improve to 2-9 overall, and in general look much-improved heading into the second half of the season.
Always a strong rebounder, sophomore Sydney Mills has asserted herself as a scorer with double-figure nights in each of the last five games, and is looking like an all-conference caliber player. Paired with the consistent production of junior guard Grace Touchette, Mills has helped the Chargers make big strides offensively in the past few weeks.
In other areas, too, the Chargers are showing improvement. The center platoon of Arianna Sysum and Anna LoMonaco continues to bear fruit, with both players posting career highs in points this month, and junior Lauren Daffenberg is excelling in her new role as the team's sixth man.
Senior Jaycie Burger continues to be an excellent leader for the team, bringing defense, toughness and outside shooting touch to the lineup, while freshman Dani Salenbien is adjusting quickly to the collegiate game with a versatile set of skills to add to the Charger attack.
The Chargers are coached by Charlie Averkamp, who's in his first year with the Hillsdale program after an excellent four-year run at Division III Benedictine University. His staff includes Amanda Parker, the former head coach at Division III Dominican University, former Williams College player Angela Vecchiarelli, and former Wisconsin Parkside player Hayley Maystead.
Other Notes
- The Chargers have a 13-5 edge over Lake Erie in 17 meetings, and won the most recent meeting between the two teams on the road earlier this season, 76-66 on Jan. 4, 2021.
- Hillsdale leads a competitive all-time series with Ohio Dominican 9-8, and the two teams have split the last four meetings, 2-2. ODU won the most recent meeting, on Jan. 11, 2020, 59-52.
- With three 3-pointers in the two games last week, senior Jaycie Burger officially moved into 10th all-time on Hillsdale's career made 3-pointers list with 129 makes, passing Lea Jones (2009-13)'s mark of 128. She joins her teammate Lauren Daffenberg on the list; Daffenberg is currently eighth all-time with 143 made 3-pointers, one behind 7th-place Mary Wiesen (1999-03). And Burger might not be the last from this year's squad to make the list – junior Grace Touchette has 105 made 3-pointers for her career and is climbing fast.
- While Sydney Mills is no longer leading the G-MAC in rebounding, she's still second in the conference at 10.9 rebounds per game – and her recent scoring outburst has her averaging a double-double (11.5 ppg). She's also still the conference leader in total rebounds (120 through 11 games) and in defensive rebounds per game (8.8).
- Hillsdale coach Charlie Averkamp hit a milestone in his young career on Thursday, winning his 100th game as a head coach with Hillsdale's 84-68 victory over Trevecca Nazarene. Averkamp was 98-35 in four years at Division III Benedictine University before taking the Hillsdale job this summer.