Schedule
Hillsdale (0-0, 0-0 G-MAC) at Purdue Northwest (0-0, 0-0 GLIAC) | 8 p.m. ET Friday, Nov. 10 | John Friend Court | Hammond, IN
Illinois-Springfield (0-0, 0-0 GLVC) at Hillsdale (0-0, 0-0 G-MAC) | 2 p.m. ET Sunday, Nov. 12 | John Friend Court | Hammond, IN
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Live Stats | Webcast | Tickets
Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Purdue NW Roster | UIS Roster | 2022-23 Hillsdale Stats | 2022-23 Purdue NW Stats | 2022-23 UIS Stats | G-MAC Standings
Players to Watch*
Hillsdale: #3 Lauren McDonald, Jr., G, Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius/Air Force (7.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg); #5 Sydney Mills, Sr., F, DeWitt, MI/DeWitt (10.8 ppg, 10.0 rpg); #10 Carly Callahan, Jr., G/F, Columbus, OH/Hilliard Bradley (8 ppg, 2.4 rpg); #30 Caitlin Splain, So., G, Powell, OH/Olentangy Liberty (10 ppg); #31 Ashley Konkle, Sr., C, Aurora, IL/Benet Academy/Western Michigan (3.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg)
Purdue NW: #3 Syria Butler, Sr., G, Dolton, IL/Valparaiso (3.9 ppg); #12 Kylie Schmidt, Jr., F, Francis Creek, WI/Mishicot (5.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg); #23 Kennedy Jackson, Sr., G, Carson, CA/Redondo Union (3.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.2 apg); #32 Dash Shaw, Sr., G, Crown Point, IN/Crown Point (18.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.1 spg); #40 Mercedes Simmons, Sr., F, Crystal Falls, MI/Forest Park (11 ppg, 5.2 rpg)
Illinois-Springfield: #15 Jocelyn Hall, Jr., F, Cisne, IL/Cisne/Olney Central (11.6 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.4 bpg at OC); #21 Saharra Murphy, Jr., G, Dayton, OH/Wayne/Alderson Broaddus (6.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.8 spg); #22 Madison Dorband, Jr., G, Chicago, IL/Resurrection/Oakton College (11.9 ppg, 3.1 apg, 3.6 spg at OC); #24 Niyah Udoiwod, Jr., F, Batavia, IL/Geneva/Oakton College (10 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 2 spg at OC); #32 Liz Uhl, G, Sr., Green Bay, WI/Oregon (16.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.2 spg)
*2022-23 Stats
Scouting the Opposition
Purdue Northwest: The Pride are coming off an 8-21 season that didn't go as hoped, but enter this year in an enviable position with four starters and five of their top seven minutes-getters returning from last year's squad looking to build toward a better outcome.
Purdue Northwest returns a formidable one-two punch in All-GLIAC guard Dash Shaw, who averaged 19.3 points per game last season, and center Mercedes Simmons, who put up 11 points and 5.2 rebounds in the paint. The pair are a dynamic pairing that's tough to stop.
With so many players back, including veteran starters Kennedy Jackson and Kyle Schmidt, as well as top subs Abbie McDowell and Syria Butler, Purdue Northwest is counting on experience and chemistry to lead to a big improvement in the standings. Hillsdale beat the Pride on a last-second shot at home in 2022-23, and Purdue Northwest will be looking to change that outcome on their home floor to start the season.
The Pride are coached by Courtney Locke, now in her sixth season with the program. Locke came to Purdue Northwest after 13 years of experience as an assistant at the NCAA DI level at schools like Hawaii, Lipscomb, Central Florida and UC-Santa Barbara, among others.
Illinois-Springfield: After a brutal 2022-23 campaign that saw the Prairie Stars finish 4-24 overall, UIS is starting fresh this season.
Just three players return from last year's squad and 18 new faces join the roster in a complete reboot of the UIS program by second-year head coach Summer Quesenberry.
Among the holdovers, the Prairie Stars do return a couple of key pieces, including All-GLVC guard Liz Uhl, who averaged 16.2 points per game for UIS in 2022-23, and fellow starter Saharra Murphy. Surrounding those two will be a huge cast of new faces, including DI bounceback Michaela Gibbons from USC-Upstate, five junior college transfers, and 11 true freshmen.
It's hard to make any predictions about a team with this much turnover, but a big key for the Prairie Stars in 2023-24 will be improving defensively. UIS scored a respectable 70.4 points per game but gave up 81.1 to opponents, a huge negative margin that played a big role in the team's lack of wins.
Quesenberry came to UIS last season after turning around Alderson Broaddus in two years at the NCAA DII level. The Ohio Wesleyan alum also was the head coach at Brescia and Lourdes, leading both teams to program records in victories during her tenure.
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's only previous meeting with Purdue Northwest was last season on Nov. 18, 2022, when the Chargers pulled out a thrilling 61-59 victory on a last-second put-back by Sydney Mills. The Chargers, meanwhile, are 4-0 all-time against Illinois-Springfield, with the last meeting another 72-70 thriller won at the buzzer by the Chargers on Nov. 12, 2016, with Allie Dittmer also making a putback as time expired for the victory.
- A three-time second-team All-G-MAC honoree, senior Sydney Mills has averaged a double-double in each of the past three seasons, and she has two of the top 10 single-season rebounding marks in program history with 299 last year and 291 in 2021-22. With 981 career rebounds entering this season, Mills is on the cusp of becoming just the third player in program history to surpass 1,000 rebounds, and as long as she stays healthy, she should surpass Sandy Skaisgir's career record of 1,146 rebounds later this year.
- Junior Caitlin Splain is on an impressive trajectory from beyond the arc – with 124 made 3-pointers through 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 152, and junior Carly Callahan is climbing the list rapidly with 77 treys in two seasons as well.