Sydney Mills was close enough to a milestone that she didn't need a monster night to become just the third player in Hillsdale College women's basketball history to surpass 1,000 rebounds for her career on Friday at Quincy.
But Mills went off anyways, and the Chargers are glad she did as Hillsdale routed the host Hawks 76-63 to pick up their first win of the season.
Mills dropped a 31 point, 15 rebound double-double, just three points off her career high in points, to help the Chargers pull away. The senior shot 10 of 14 from the floor and a perfect 5 of 5 from 3-point range while grabbing seven offensive rebounds to lead Hillsdale. Three of those made 3-pointers came in a second quarter where the Chargers outscored the Hawks 26-10 and made seven 3-pointers as a team to take a 43-26 lead into halftime. The game never really got closer from there, as Hillsdale led by as many as 20 points and never let the Hawks get back within single digits.
Mills' 15 rebounds give her 1,010 for her career, moving her past former All-American Megan Fogt and into second all-time in career rebounds. Mills is just 136 rebounds behind Hillsdale career record-holder Sandy Skaisgir and has a great chance to claim the record this year if she can stay healthy.
Friday was a good shooting night overall for the Chargers, who made 14 3-pointers and shot 56% from deep overall. Junior Caitlin Splain hit four 3 pointers and finished with 16 points and five assists, while redshirt freshman Sydney Pnacek chipped in eight points off the bench. Kendall McCormick added seven points and four steals for the Chargers, and Lauren McDonald filled up the stat sheet with four points, six rebounds, nine assists and three steals.
Hillsdale (1-2, 0-0 G-MAC) will look to build off its first victory of the season with another contest on Saturday, as the Chargers remain in Quincy, Illinois to take on another GLVC foe, McKendree, tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET.
Photo by Charles Miller