The Hillsdale College women's basketball team has been unstoppable at home this season, going unbeaten in all of its contests in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena so far.
On Tuesday evening, the Chargers furthered that streak with another big second half performance to knock off visiting Findlay, 62-57, and improve to 5-0 at home on the year.
Hillsdale started extremely slow offensively, scoring just 21 first half points as shots refused to fall, and trailed by as many as 11 with 8:29 to play in the third quarter after Findlay opened the second half with four straight points.
But the Chargers dug in defensively to force the Oilers into an inefficient night and stay in the game, holding Findlay to just 37.7% shooting from the floor and a 5 for 17 performance from 3-point range. That bought Hillsdale just enough time to get senior Grace Touchette, the team's leading scorer, going.
Trailing 32-21, Touchette hit a 3-pointer and a baseline jumper on back-to-back possessions to pull Hillsdale back within six, sparking a run that saw Hillsdale claw its way back into the contest. Caitlin Splain gave the Chargers their first lead since the first quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers with 1:30 to play in the third, at 45-44.
From there, the game was nip and tuck as both teams traded the lead back and forth throughout the fourth quarter. A critical and-one by Maverick Delp on an offensive putback with 3:26 to play made it 56-55 Chargers, and Hillsdale took the lead for good a layup by Touchette with 1:29 to play, 59-57. Hillsdale got back-to-back stops on the next two defensive possessions, and went 3 for 4 at the line down the stretch to close out the victory. The Chargers held Findlay scoreless for the final 3:19 of the game in a virtuoso defensive performance late to secure the victory.
Touchette led the Chargers with 22 points, four assists and two steals, with most of that scoring coming on the second half, and senior Sydney Mills chipped in 13 points, nine rebounds and two steals as well. Sophomore Caitlin Splain chipped in 11 points and two steals off the bench for Hillsdale.
Two other reserves made a huge impact for the Chargers playing their biggest role in a game this season to date. Playing in 18 minutes, Delp, a senior forward, scored six points and chipped in 10 rebounds for the first double-digit rebounding game of her career. Playing a career high in minutes for the Chargers as well, sophomore Kendall McCormick scored four points and played critical defense on the ball in 22 minutes of action. Junior Dani Salenbien chipped in five rebounds and two assists as well.
The Chargers improve to 5-6 overall and 2-3 in the G-MAC with the victory, and snap a five-game losing streak to their arch-rival Oilers as well. Hillsdale is now off to Puerto Rico for the next few days on a holiday trip that includes two contests against Puerto Rico programs Rio Piedras and Bayamon in the Coliseo Mario Morales. The Chargers open with a 3 p.m. ET contest against Rio Piedras on Thursday.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan