If the Hillsdale College women's basketball team wants to break a five-year G-MAC tournament drought, it was going to have to end its road game losing streak first.
On Saturday, the Chargers snapped the second streak and made big strides to ending the first, as well, with arguably the team's most important victory of the season to date. Hillsdale took down Ursuline, currently fifth in the G-MAC standings, on the Arrows' home floor in a 66-55 victory to move two and a half games ahead of Cedarville for the last spot in the G-MAC Tournament with five games remaining in the regular season.
The Chargers entered Saturday carrying a 13-game road losing streak dating back to the 2021-22 season, and in many of those losses Hillsdale held fourth quarter leads and just couldn't finish. Against the Arrows, however, the Chargers resolutely refused to fall victim to the same script. Trailing 30-25 to Ursuline at halftime, Hillsdale outscored the Arrows 41-25 in the second half to seize control.
Hillsdale trailed 39-32 with 6:27 remaining in the third quarter, but used a 10-1 run over the next three minutes, keyed by 3-pointers from Carly Callahan and Sydney Mills, to take a 42-40 lead, then got four more points from Mills to answer an Ursuline 3-pointer and take a 46-43 lead into the final period.
After two free throws at the start of the fourth quarter cut Hillsdale's lead to one, the Chargers seized control for good with a back-breaking 11-0 run, led by seven points from junior Dani Salenbien, in a three-minute span to take a 57-45 edge with 5:22 to play.
With the game in the balance, Ursuline made one final push, outscoring the Chargers 10-2 over the next four minutes to cut Hillsdale's lead to a precarious 59-55 with 1:12 to go, and had possession of the ball. But with a critical road win in their grasp, the Chargers made the necessary plays to put the game away at both ends of the floor in the final minute, getting four defensive stops and going 7 for 8 at the free throw line to seal a much needed victory.
Salenbien had one of her best games of the season off the bench to key the Chargers' victory, scoring 11 of her team-leading 15 points in the second half and going 4 for 4 at the line with a critical steal in the final minute of the game. Mills also had a huge night for Hillsdale, finishing with a 14 point, 14 rebound double-double, her eighth of the season, as well in the victory.
Callahan chipped in nine points for Hillsdale, while sophomore Peighton Nelson added six points, five rebounds and two blocks. Ten different players scored for the Chargers in the victory, and Hillsdale also got a great defensive effort, holding Ursuline well below its season average in points and to just 34.5% shooting from the floor.
With the win, Hillsdale is now 14-11 overall, 7-8 in the G-MAC. The Chargers' 14 wins are the most in a season since the program's last G-MAC Tournament appearance in 2018-19, and Hillsdale is now tied for sixth place with Walsh in the G-MAC standings, a half-game ahead of Northwood who sits in the eighth and final G-MAC Tournament spot.
Hillsdale has a big opportunity next Thursday as the Chargers host Walsh for a 5:30 p.m. contest, with a chance to move past the Cavaliers for the sixth-place spot while also locking up the head-to-head tiebreaker with a victory. It'll be a white-out contest for the Chargers, and is shaping up to be one of the biggest women's basketball contests in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena in multiple seasons.
Photo by Charles Miller