2021-22 All-G-MAC Women's Basketball Teams
Predicted to finish 11th in the G-MAC, the Hillsdale College women's basketball team was one of the turnaround stories of the year at the NCAA DII level.
The Chargers improved from 4 to 13 wins and finished seventh in the G-MAC, four spots higher than predicted, while just missing their first above-.500 season since 2018-19 by one win.
Three players who were critical to that turnaround – one newcomer and two veterans – received well-deserved honors from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference on Thursday as the G-MAC announced its award winners and All-Conference honorees for the 2021-22 season.
The Chargers snagged one of the three major G-MAC awards, as Peighton Nelson earned G-MAC Freshman of the Year honors for the 2021-22 season.
In a G-MAC campaign where the conversation was dominated by super seniors and returning starters, Nelson was a rarity – a freshman new to the college game who started for the Chargers from day one and was an instant-impact player the moment she first stepped on the court, averaging 8.4 points and 3.6 assists per game.
From the first game, Nelson made key contributions for the Chargers as a ball-handler and distributor, finishing the season with seven games with five or more assists, and as a defensive pest, serving as Hillsdale's primary on-ball defender of opposing point guards.
As the season wore on and Nelson grew more comfortable as a scorer, the Cottage Grove, Wisconsin native's offensive game began to blossom. Five of her 11 double-figure scoring outings came in the Chargers' final six games, including career highs of 16 points in back-to-back outings at Malone and Walsh. Those final outings provide a glimpse at what Nelson could be on a consistent basis next season with a summer of further development as a player.
Along with Nelson's award, two more Chargers were recognized by the G-MAC on its annual All-Conference team.
Senior Grace Touchette was one of 10 players to earn first-team All-G-MAC honors, the first All-G-MAC recognition of her career and the first first-team honor won by a Charger since Allie Dewire and Brittany Gray in 2018-19.
A four-year contributor and three-year starter for the Chargers, Touchette moved off the ball to shooting guard in 2021-22 and had the best season of her career, averaging a career-high 16.6 points per game along with 3.3 assists and 3.7 rebounds while cutting her turnover rate in half.
The Northfield, Minnesota native consistently led the Chargers in scoring, finishing in double-figures in 25 of 26 games and scoring 20 or more points seven times, including a career-high 25 points in a win over Malone on Jan. 8. Her consistency and shooting touch made her one of the most feared scorers in the G-MAC in 2021-22 and the top name on every opposing team's scouting report.
Along with first-team All-G-MAC honors, Touchette also was recognized as one of the five members of the CoSIDA Academic All-District team earlier this season, the first Charger women's basketball player to receive that distinction since 2015.
Touchette's 1,225 career points rank 12th all-time in Charger history, and her 172 career 3-pointers are sixth all-time. She is planning on using her extra year of eligibility granted to her due to Covid-19 to return for the 2022-23 season and will look to add to those accomplishments.
For the second straight season, meanwhile, junior forward Sydney Mills earned second-team All-G-MAC honors as well for the Chargers.
As a sophomore, Mills earned her All-G-MAC award by averaging a double-double, and she repeated that feat in 2021-22, finishing with 12.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. One of the top post players in the conference despite being under six feet tall, Mills outdueled taller and bigger players on the boards for the Chargers repeatedly in 2021-22.
Mills' 12 double-doubles on the season were tied for the fourth most in the Midwest Region in 2021-22, while her 291 total rebounds were the seventh most in a single season in Hillsdale women's basketball history.
While Mills did her best work in the paint, she also proved to be lethal from the outside, shooting 34.5 percent from 3-point range and finishing tied for the team lead in 3-pointers made with 52 in 2021-22.
The junior's rebounding prowess has marked her as one of the greatest players on the boards in Charger history. With 682 rebounds, Mills is currently tied for eighth all-time at Hillsdale with at least one and possibly two more seasons to play thanks to the Covid-19 eligibility waiver granted by the NCAA during her sophomore year. That puts 1,000 career rebounds, a milestone reached by only two other players in program history, in sight.
All three players return for Hillsdale in 2022-23, along with two other starters and several key reserves as the Chargers aim to continue their ascent of the G-MAC standings next season.