Schedule
Hillsdale (11-9, 7-5 G-MAC) at Walsh (5-13, 3-9 G-MAC) | 5:30 p.m. ET Thursday, Feb. 8 | Alumni Arena | North Canton, OH
Hillsdale (11-9, 7-5 G-MAC) at Lake Erie (1-18, 0-13 G-MAC) | 3 p.m. ET Saturday, Feb. 10 | Osborne Center | Painesville, OH
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Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Walsh Roster | Lake Erie Roster | 2023-24 Hillsdale Stats | 2023-24 Walsh Stats | 2023-24 Lake Erie Stats | G-MAC Standings
Projected Starters
Hillsdale: #3 Lauren McDonald, Jr., G, Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius/Air Force (12.9 ppg, 6.5 rpg. 3.4 apg, 1.8 spg); #5 Sydney Mills, Sr., F, DeWitt, MI/DeWitt (13.3 ppg, 9 rpg); #15 Kendall McCormick, Jr., G, Hinckley, OH/Highland (9.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.3 spg); #30 Caitlin Splain, So., G, Powell, OH/Olentangy Liberty (13.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.2 spg); #31 Ashley Konkle, Sr., C, Aurora, IL/Benet Academy/Western Michigan (4.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg)
Walsh: #4 Emma Dretke, G/F, So., Massillon, OH/Jackson (4.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.1 bpg); #15 Alycia Triplett, Fr., F, Fishers, IN/Fishers (9.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.4 spg); #23 Sami Kim, Fr., G, Brunswick, OH/St. Joseph Academy (4.6 ppg, 2.9 apg, 1.1 spg); #24 Kiley Dyrlund, So., F, Canton, OH/GlenOak (13.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.6 spg); #25 Lauren Galaska, Jr, G, Olmsted Falls, OH/Olmsted Falls (3.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.1 apg)
Lake Erie: #3 Nina Shaffer, G, Fr., Green, OH/Green (5.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg); #12 Kylie Maxwell, Fr., F, Mentor, OH/Mentor (5.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1 spg, 1.1 bpg); #13 Anna Ibos, Jr., G, Parma, OH/Trinity (8.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg); #14 Alexis Lehmkuhl, Sr., F, Wellington, OH/Wellington (8 ppg, 3.2 rpg); #32 Sophie Chipps, Fr, G, Napoleon, OH/Napoleon (5.8 ppg, 3 rpg)
Scouting the Opposition
Walsh: The Cavaliers enter this week happy to be in friendly confines and looking to get back on track after three double-digit losses on the road. Despite an up and down season so far, Walsh has some quality wins, including a dominant victory over Ursuline, and has been good at home, with four of their five wins coming in Alumni Arena.
Kiley Dyrlund leads the Cavaliers, as the sophomore guard is Walsh's only double-digit scorer and the G-MAC's top pickpocket, with 47 steals entering this weekend's games. Freshman Alycia Triplett has also been a key player in her first season with Walsh, averaging 9.2 points and leading the team in rebounds.
Walsh has hung its hat on a decent defense, led by players that combined lead the G-MAC in blocks (4.16) and rank second in steals (10.79). The challenge for Walsh down the stretch is to find a way to jump-start its offense, which ranks just 12th in the G-MAC at 57.1 points per game.
Walsh is coached by Mark Schwitzgable, who is in his second season leading the Cavaliers. Schwitzgable came to North Canton after a stint as an assistant at Division I Valparaiso University, and also spent time as an assistant at Urbana and Ohio University.
Lake Erie: The Storm will play on Saturday looking to build some positive momentum in what's been a rough season so far in Painesville. After picking up a 64-59 win over Lake Superior State on Nov. 18, Lake Erie has lost 17 straight games, including 13 straight conference games, with only one of those G-MAC losses coming by single digits against Cedarville on Jan. 11.
With no starters and just two players who saw the floor for the Storm in 2022-23 seeing action so far in 2023-24, there were always going to be growing pains for Lake Erie this season. A bright spot for the Storm has been one of those returning players, junior Anna Ibos, who leads Lake Erie in scoring so far. Lake Erie has also gotten key contributions from fifth-year senior Alexis Lehmkuhl, who's back in action after missing all of the 2022-23 season, as well as West Liberty transfer Grace Lyon and freshman Sophie Chipps.
Lake Erie will need to show improvement at both ends of the floor to make a strong finish in the final seven games of the G-MAC season possible, as the Storm currently rank dead last in the conference in both scoring offense and defense entering this weekend's contests.
The Storm are coached by Ted Perdas, who is in his second season at Lake Erie. Perdas came to Lake Erie from Fairland High School in Proctorville, Ohio, and also spent time as an assistant at Alderson Broaddus, Garden City Community College, Holy Cross College, Kansas Wesleyan University, and Shawnee State.
Scouting Hillsdale
A huge win at Ursuline, one of the top teams in the G-MAC, last Saturday has solidified Hillsdale's standing in the conference. At 11-9 overall, 7-5 in the G-MAC, Hillsdale is in good position to make the G-MAC Tournament entering the stretch run and have a huge opportunity to build their resume this weekend on the road.
The Chargers entered the season having to replace three starters from 2022-23 but had a strong core returning from a team that played a deep bench in the previous 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.
In addition to Mills, Hillsdale has several players who are in the midst of breakout seasons 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 has been an all-around stat-stuffer. Now juniors, both Caitlin Splain and Kendall McCormick have grown considerably over two seasons at Hillsdale and have also made big leaps 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, as well as Ashley Konkle and Olivia Patch, two-way post presences who have carved out bigger roles in 2023-24.
Talented players in the Chargers' sophomore and freshmen classes have carved out their own roles and made important contributions to the squad's efforts in 2023-24. Sydney Pnacek, Annalise Peitrzyk, Savannah Smith and Emma Ruhlman all have played important minutes for the Chargers over the course of the season.
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 is looking to break a long streak of Walsh success in the series between the two teams on Thursday, as the Cavaliers enter having won eight straight games over the Chargers dating back to 2017, and lead the overall series 12-7. Against Lake Erie, Hillsdale has control of the series, with a 15-6 overall record against the Storm, including a sweep of Lake Erie last season.
- The Chargers are happy to have senior Sydney Mills back on the floor after missing six games due to injury. Earlier in the season, 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 in November. She's 48 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 75) and 3-pointers made (8th with 170), while her 1,311 points rank 11th all-time in Hillsdale College history.
- Junior Caitlin Splain is on an impressive trajectory from beyond the arc – with 172 made 3-pointers through two and a half seasons, the Powell, Ohio native is seventh in program history, and 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 168.
- Junior Lauren McDonald has been filling up the stat sheet for the Chargers, as the guard has helped Hillsdale to a decent start. She currently ranks 10th in the G-MAC in points per game, ninth in rebounds per game, fifth in assists and 10th in steals, all while averaging double-digit points. Her buzzer-beating mid-range shot forced overtime and was key to Hillsdale's 71-61 home win over Malone on Wednesday, Jan. 17. McDonald was a mid-year transfer from Air Force last season who showed flashes in the back-half of 2022-23, but appears to be making the leap to stardom with a full offseason with the team under her belt in 2023-24.
- Junior Kendall McCormick is starting for the Chargers for the first time in her career, and showing her bonafides as a defensive stopper. McCormick is averaging 2.3 steals per game, good for a tie for third in the G-MAC, with 11 multi-steal games so far and a career-high six steals in Hillsdale's 69-60 victory over Thomas More on Jan. 13. The junior is putting up career-highs across the board, including averaging 9.3 points per game after averaging 2.1 in 2022-23.
- Midway through 2023-24, Hillsdale is currently on track to make a massive leap defensively this season. The Chargers are giving up just 62.5 points per game so far, five full points less than the 68.2 points they conceded in 2022-23, and seven points less than the 70.2 points they gave up in 2021-22. Emblematic of Hillsdale's success defensively is a stellar opponent field goal percentage – the Chargers are allowing opponents to shoot just 38.5% from the field against them, the third-best mark in the G-MAC behind the current first and second place teams, Ashland and Ursuline.