Schedule
Hillsdale (2-3, 0-0 G-MAC) at Roosevelt (1-5, 0-1 CCAC) | 2 p.m. ET Saturday, Nov. 25 | Goodman Center | Chicago, IL
Saginaw Valley St. (2-3, 0-0 GLIAC) vs Hillsdale (2-3, 0-0 G-MAC) | 5:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, Nov. 28 | Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena | Hillsdale, MI
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Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Roosevelt Roster | SVSU Roster | 2023-24 Hillsdale Stats | 2023-24 Roosevelt Stats | 2023-24 SVSU Stats | G-MAC Standings
Projected Starters
Hillsdale: #3 Lauren McDonald, Jr., G, Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius/Air Force (11 ppg, 7 rpg. 4.8 apg, 2.2 spg); #5 Sydney Mills, Sr., F, DeWitt, MI/DeWitt (15 ppg, 9.6 rpg); #15 Kendall McCormick, Jr., G, Hinckley, OH/Highland (8.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.4 spg); #30 Caitlin Splain, So., G, Powell, OH/Olentangy Liberty (13.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1 spg); #31 Ashley Konkle, Sr., C, Aurora, IL/Benet Academy/Western Michigan (3.6 ppg, 5 rpg, 1 spg, 1 bpg)
Roosevelt: #4 Kristen Keys, Sr., G/F, St. Louis, MO/Westminster Christian/Missouri S&T (9.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.6 spg); #13 Brilan McCoury, Sr., G, Sunman, IN/East Central/Benedictine (9.7 ppg, 2.5 spg); #21 Ella Pritchard, Fr., F, Minneapolis, MN/Holy Angels (3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.2 spg); #23 Malou Savanna, Sr., G, Rungsted Kyst, Denmark/Rungsted/Oklahoma Baptist (5.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg); #24 Jalyssa Carrasco, Jr., G, Aurora, IL/West Aurora/Morton (5.7 ppg, 4 apg, 1.7 spg)
SVSU: #2 Jessica Massey, Sr., G, Eau Claire, WI/Memorial (4.8 ppg, 3 rpg, 1 apg); #11 Aleshia Jones, Jr., G, Leavenworth, KS/Iowa Western CC (16.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.6 apg, 2.6 spg); #20 Lydia Meredith, So., G, Portland, MI/St. Patrick's (8.6 ppg, 3 rpg, 2.6 spg); #23 Victoria Stafford, Sr., F, Salem, OR/South Salem (6.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg); #44 Tyler Scheid, Sr., F, Coldwater, MI/Coldwater (5.6 ppg, 7 rpg)
Scouting the Opposition
Roosevelt: The Lakers are a completely different team from the one that took on the Chargers last season, with just two holdovers from last year's roster along with five transfers and four freshmen.
That remade roster has meant a fluid lineup in Roosevelt's first six games, as the team tries to find its optimal lineup. Two regulars are Morton College transfer Jayla Carrasco and Benedictine University transfer Brilan McCory, who have started all six games and provide steady hands for the Lakers at the guard position, as well as Missouri S&T transfer Kristen Keys, one of Roosevelt's top scoring threats.
The Lakers are looking for more consistent post play. Both holdovers, Kencia Levasseur and Jayla Turchin, were important players for Roosevelt in 2022-23, but both have missed time early in the season, leaving freshman Ella Pritchard as the most consistently available low-post presence.
Deon Thomas is entering his second season as the coach of the Lakers, returning to Chicago after getting his start at nearby Benedictine University in 2017. He's also spent time working at NCAA DI programs St. Louis and Missouri before taking on his first head coaching job.
SVSU: After back-to-back above .500 finishes in the GLIAC in each of the last two seasons, the Cardinals are aiming to take another step forward as a program in head coach Jenny Pruett's fifth season.
SVSU lost three starters from last season's team, including the bulk of its scoring in All-GLIAC players Kaitlyn Zarycki and Tory DePerry. In their place, JuCo transfer Aleshia Jones has stepped up in a big way, averaging 16.8 points in her first five contests.
The Cardinals play a deep bench, with 11 in the rotation and 10 averaging at least nine minutes a game. Balanced scoring has helped SVSU overcome the loss of its two star players, with eight players contributing at least five points a game. Sophomore guard Lydia Meredith has stepped up in a big way, and fellow sophomore Emma Dziezgowski is also playing well off the bench for SVSU.
SVSU started the season 0-3 against tough competition but righted the ship this past week, with dominant wins over Pittsburgh-Johnstown and Cedarville. The trip to Hillsdale will be their first road contest of 2023-24.
Pruett has led a slow but steady build for the Cardinals in five seasons after joining SVSU from DI St. Bonaventure, where she was an assistant. She's also spent time as an assistant at Kent State, Longwood and Central Michigan, and was a former star player at Ohio University prior to her coaching career.
Scouting Hillsdale
Hillsdale enters the 2023-24 campaign fresh off a 17-win season that saw the Chargers earn their first winning record in five seasons, and their first berth in the G-MAC Tournament in that span. First-year head coach Brianna Brennan will look to continue Hillsdale's steady climb after helping the Chargers lay the foundation during two years as an assistant with the program.
The Chargers must replace three starters from 2022-23 but have a strong core returning from a team that played a deep bench last season. Three-time All-G-MAC honoree Sydney Mills has averaged a double-double in each of the past three seasons and is on track to become the program's all-time leading rebounder in her final season at Hillsdale, while junior Carly Callahan will look to build off a season where she shot over 37 percent from 3-point range and flashed greatly improved playmaking ability.
Hillsdale has several players who look primed for increased roles in 2023-24. Air Force transfer Lauren McDonald is a key piece who just scratched the surface of her potential in a half-season with the Chargers in 2022-23, and could be one of the breakout players in the conference in 2023-24. Now juniors, both Caitlin Splain and Kendall McCormick have grown considerably over two seasons at Hillsdale and could be ready for big leaps of their own as upperclassmen with increased roles on the floor. Hillsdale also can look to senior Dani Hohlbein, a gritty veteran contributor who fills up the stat sheet when she's on the floor, and Ashley Konkle and Olivia Patch, two-way post presences who will compete for bigger roles in 2023-24, to play important minutes as well.
Talented players in the Chargers' sophomore and freshmen classes will push the upperclassmen as they look to carve out their own roles and make contributions to the squad's efforts in 2023-24. Sydney Pnacek, Payton Adkins and Emma Ruhlman now have a year under their belts in the program and a foundation to build on, while Hillsdale's talented three-player freshman group will aim to make an instant impact.
The road ahead will be tough for Hillsdale in G-MAC play, as the conference put four teams in the NCAA Tournament last season, including defending DII National Champion Ashland, and only gets tougher with the addition of 2021-22 NAIA National Champion Thomas More to the conference. While there will be plenty of tough games ahead for the Chargers in 2023-24, Hillsdale was able to beat two of those four NCAA Tournament qualifying teams, Trevecca Nazarene and Malone, last season, and took a third, Kentucky Wesleyan, to overtime in the G-MAC Tournament, proving that Hillsdale is capable of playing on the same level as those squads.
Other Notes
- The Chargers were picked to finish 8th in the 2023-24 G-MAC Preseason Coaches Poll in line with their 7th place finish in 2022-23. Defending NCAA DII national champion Ashland was picked to repeat as conference title-winners, while Kentucky Wesleyan was picked second and Trevecca Nazarene third.
- Hillsdale beat Roosevelt, a current NAIA program who will be moving up to the NCAA DII level and joining the GLIAC in the near future, 98-70 in their only prior meeting last season on Jan. 2, 2023. The Chargers are 18-37 against SVSU all-time in a relationship dating back to their shared days in the GLIAC and the founding of both programs, but Hillsdale is 16-8 against the Cardinals since 2000. SVSU won the last meeting between the two teams, 81-65.
- A three-time second-team All-G-MAC honoree, senior Sydney Mills became just the third player in Hillsdale College history and the second in G-MAC history to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career after grabbing her 1,000th rebound against Quincy in a 31 point, 15 rebound performance that led to the Chargers' first win last Friday. She's 118 rebounds away from breaking the Hillsdale College program record set by Sandy Skaisgir in 1991. Mills also ranks in the top 10 all-time at Hillsdale in blocked shots (7th with 68) and 3-pointers made (8th with 158), while her 1,208 points rank 13th all-time in Hillsdale College history.
- Junior Caitlin Splain is on an impressive trajectory from beyond the arc – with 138 made 3-pointers through a little over two seasons, the Powell, Ohio native is on track to challenge Chelsea Harrison's program record of 237 made 3-pointers set in 2012. Hillsdale has several impressive marksmen on the squad, as Mills is also in the top 10 all-time at Hillsdale for made 3-pointers with 158, and junior Carly Callahan is climbing the list rapidly with 77 treys in two seasons as well.