After a blowout home loss to Walsh on Thursday, and with G-MAC leader Ashland on tap next week, the Hillsdale College women's basketball team needed to bounce back in a hurry on Saturday.
They did exactly that and more, demolishing visiting Malone 91-61 in the team's single best offensive performance of the season.
The Chargers put up a season-high 91 points on the Pioneers, shooting 56.9 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range to put the game well out of reach in the second half.
Hillsdale started the game hot, scoring 24 first quarter points, but led by just one as Malone matched that strong showing with solid shooting of their own. The Chargers really seized control in the second quarter, clamping down defensively to hold Malone to just 11 points in the period and closing the half on a 14-2 run to take a 16-point lead into the break. Hillsdale continued to pour it on in the second half, steadily pulling away for one of their most impressive victories of the season.
Senior guard Grace Touchette continued her excellent year with the best offensive game of her career, scoring a career-high 25 points on 9 of 16 shooting fron the floor, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and finishing with four assists.
Three more Chargers finished in double figures, including junior Sydney Mills, who chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds, and Arianna Sysum, who was a perfect 6 for 6 from the floor and added 13 points and two steals as well.
Freshman Peighton Nelson chipped in 10 points, four assists and two steals for the Chargers, freshman Caitlin Spalin chipped in eight points off the bench, and sophomore Dani Salenbien filled up the stat sheet for the Chargers with seven points, six rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal.
Two more players had strong games off the bench for Hillsdale, as freshman Carly Callahan chipped in five points, seven rebounds and two assists, and junior Maverick Delp added five points as well.
While the Chargers lit up the scoreboard offensively, they also controlled one of the more explosive offensive teams in the G-MAC defensively, limiting Malone to just 37 percent from the floor, including a 4 for 31 performance from 3-point range.
Now 9-5 overall and 6-2 in G-MAC play, Hillsdale remains in a second-place tie with Kentucky Wesleyan heading into one of its toughest tests of the season next Thursday, as the Chargers host G-MAC leader and the eighth-ranked team in the country, Ashland, for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.
Photo by Gwen Buchhop