HILLSDALE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team hit the road for the first time of the 2023-24 season as they traveled to Hillsdale to face the Chargers. The Cardinals came out on top with a 55-45 win to extend their win streak to three.

Makayla Mau led the Cardinals with a season-high 10 points while Saginaw Valley got scoring from 10 players. Megan McCalla had eight while Jessica Massey, Aleshia Jones, and Tyler Scheid had 7 each. Jones led the team with seven rebounds. Lydia Meredith came off winning GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week and scored six and had a career-high six steals breaking the five she had against Pitt.-Johnstown last week.

Hillsdale opened with a 9-0 run in the first before a 13-0 run for SVSU flipped the script. The Cardinals got a layup and four free throws from McCalla, a bucket from Keinsley and Jones, and a three pointer from Mau. A Meredith free throw gave Saginaw Valley a 14-11 lead after the first quarter.

After a Chargers bucket to start the second, SVSU had a 5-2 run with a Scheid jumper and free throw along with a layup from Jones to extend the lead 19-13. Mau, Meredith, and Saniaa Walker all made buckets while trading points with Hillsdale to push the score to 25-18 heading into halftime.

It took two and a half minutes into the third before Massey drained a three for the first points of the second half. That jump started a 9-2 run for Saginaw Valley following two layups for Scheid and one for Meredith to give the Cardinals a 34-20 lead. Hillsdale cut the lead to 10 before Massey hit two free throws at the end of the quarter to make it 42-30.

A 6-0 run started the fourth for Hillsdale before a 10-3 run for Saginaw Valley gave them the double digit lead again. Mau hit a jumper and a three while Jones had a bucket and one conversion and Keinsley made a layup. A 6-3 run for the Chargers ended the game cutting the lead to 10 as SVSU hit three free throws down the stretch to hold the lead.

The Cardinals have three wins in a row and continue on the road. Next week, Saginaw Valley heads to Michigan Tech on Thursday, December 7 for their first conference game. Tip is set for 5:30 PM in Houghton, Michigan.