On a day when it was celebrating its two graduating seniors, the Hillsdale College basketball team sent Lauren Daffenberg and Sophia Pierce out in style with their best offensive game of the season.
The Chargers broke the century mark for the first time all season in a 104-71 win over visiting Lake Erie, a victory that snaps a five-game losing streak and gets the Chargers back to .500.
There was no one moment where the Chargers seized control on Saturday -- just steady offensive execution that helped Hillsdale's lead grow bigger and bigger throughout the contest. The Chargers scored 21 or more points in every quarter, topping out at 29 in the fourth, and held Lake Erie to 21 points or below in all four quarters of the game.
Hillsdale shot 50% from the floor and 46.7 from 3-point range, with seven different players hitting at least one three-pointer. Freshman Carly Callahan led the Chargers with 15 points off the bench, going 3 for 4 from beyond the arc, while Daffenberg also knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with 10 points and four rebounds. Daffenberg's three 3-pointers give her 199 for her career, moving her into a tie for third place all-time at Hillsdale in career made 3-pointers with former teammate Brittany Gray.
Senior Grace Touchette and freshman Peighton Nelson each chipped in 13 points and seven assists in strong performances, junior Sydney Mills added 11 points, six rebounds and three assists, and junior Arianna Sysum added 11 points as well to give the Chargers three players in double figures. Freshman Caitlin Splain added eight points and junior Maverick Delp finished with seven points and eight rebounds for Hillsdale, which had all 13 players who appeared in the contest record at least one point.
That included Pierce, who knocked down a fourth-quarter triple her self to finish the contest with three points for the Chargers.
Hillsdale finished the victory with 24 assists and just seven turnovers, one of their best assist-to-turnover ratios in a single game this season. The Chargers also got 46 points from the bench in the contest and made 14 3-pointers to Lake Erie's eight, as well as 20 free throws to Lake Erie's nine in the victory.
The Chargers are now 12-12 overall, 9-9 in the G-MAC and have a quick turnaround to a Monday home contest against Trevecca Nazarene at 5 p.m. Hillsdale is now in sixth place in the G-MAC with a real shot at earning the program's first G-MAC tournament berth since 2018-19 if the Chargers can go 2-1 or better in the final three game stretch this next week to end the season.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan