In front of the loudest and wildest home crowd it's played in front of all season, the Hillsdale College women's basketball team battled to the buzzer with visiting Tiffin in a critical G-MAC game on Thursday night.
But in the end, Hillsdale came up just short, as the Chargers' game-winning 3-point attempt didn't fall as time expired in a heartbreakingly close 52-50 loss to the Dragons.
The Chargers trailed for most of the fourth quarter, but battled back to tie the game on a Peighton Nelson layup with 2:40 to go. 40 seconds later, Nelson hit two free throws to give the Chargers a 50-49 lead with two minutes to play.
But Tiffin's Aarion Nichols answered, drawing two fouls and gonig 3 of 4 from the line in the final two minutes to put the Dragons out in front. The Chargers had multiple chances to retake the lead, but missed two three pointers and had a potential go-ahead layup blocked from behind with 43 seconds to play.
Poor shooting was the story of the night for Hillsdale, which saw a gritty and determined effort at both ends of the floor undone by an inability to get shots to fall. The Chargers were 2 of 17 from 3-point range and shot just 32.1 percent from the floor, but stayed afloat in the game by getting to the foul line and knocking down free throws, with 14 makes on 17 attempts.
While the Chargers struggled from the floor, a strong defensive effort meant that Tiffin didn't fare much better -- the Dragons shot just 34.4 percent on field goals and 22.2 percent from distance. A lot of that came down to the Charger defense, as Hillsdale recorded seven blocks in the contest, their second-most in a game this season, and held all of the Dragons' top offensive weapons -- Nichols, Jada Tate and Savanah Richards -- below their season averages.
Junior Sydney Mills had a huge night to give the Chargers a chance, scoring eight points, pulling down 15 rebounds and blocking four shots. Senior Grace Touchette led the Hillsdale offense with 13 points, four rebounds and two assists, and junior Arianna Sysum chipped in 11 points and four rebounds as well.
Nelson finished with 10 points and four assists for the Chargers, and sophomore Dani Salenbien added six points off the bench as well.
With the loss, the Chargers fall to 13-13 in the year, and 10-10 in conference play. Hillsdale now has only the slimmest of chances of making the G-MAC Tournament, but the Chargers do have an opportunity on Saturday as they take on Ashland on the road in their season finale. The Eagles just clinched a share of the G-MAC title tonight with a win over Findlay, and will be looking to secure the title outright with a win over the Chargers. Hillsdale will be a massive underdog, but if the Chargers can pull the upset, it would at the very least be a perfect send-off for a team that's already improved by nine wins this season, and might open the door to sneak in to the sixth and final spot in the G-MAC tourney if every other result went the Chargers' way on Saturday.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan