Schedule
Hillsdale (4-5, 1-1 G-MAC) at Malone (4-4, 1-1 G-MAC) | 1 p.m. ET Saturday, Dec. 16 | Osborne Hall | Canton, OH
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Additional Info
Hillsdale Roster | Malone Roster | 2023-24 Hillsdale Stats | 2023-24 Malone Stats | G-MAC Standings
Projected Starters
Hillsdale: #3 Lauren McDonald, Jr., G, Chicago, IL/St. Ignatius/Air Force (12.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg. 4 apg, 2.6 spg); #5 Sydney Mills, Sr., F, DeWitt, MI/DeWitt (14.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 1.0 spg); #15 Kendall McCormick, Jr., G, Hinckley, OH/Highland (9.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.8 spg); #30 Caitlin Splain, So., G, Powell, OH/Olentangy Liberty (12.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.2 spg); #31 Ashley Konkle, Sr., C, Aurora, IL/Benet Academy/Western Michigan (3.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg)
Malone: #3 Aila Miller, So., G, Berlin, OH/Hiland (12.8 ppg, 6 rpg); #11 Kayla Curry-Brown, Fr., G, Westerville, OH/North (4.8 ppg); #22 Kyli Horn, Jr., G, Millersburg, OH/Hiland (8.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg); #23 Brinn Hunt, So., G/F, Perrysburg, OH/Toledo Central Catholic (4.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg); #25 Brooklyn Troyer, Jr, G, Apple Creek, OH/Waynedale (9.1 ppg, 5 rpg, 1.5 spg)
Scouting the Opposition
Malone: Coming off one of the best seasons in program history that included an NCAA Tournament berth, the Pioneers have been forced to reload with the loss of their two leading scorers to graduation.
Holdover guards Brinn Hunt, Kyli Horn and Brooklyn Troyer have played well in larger roles than last season, while 6-foot-1 center Erin Kaufman has been the team's leading scorer and averages nearly a double-double despite coming off the bench for the Pioneers the last several games.
Two new faces have been big for Malone so far – Akron transfer Aila Miller, who has brought significant perimeter scoring punch in her first season with the Pioneers, and freshman Kayla Curry-Brown, who's moved into the starting lineup to give Malone an up-tempo five-guard attack to start games.
The Pioneers remain one of the league's best defenses, conceding just 61.6 points per game, good for fourth in the league, and will look to get on a roll after a tough opening slate of contests.
Malone is coached by Selana Reale, who has posted winning records in four of her first five seasons with the Pioneers and led Malone to one of its two NCAA Tournament appearances in program history.
Scouting Hillsdale
Hillsdale is 1-1 in the G-MAC after two contests, beating Ohio Dominican at home and falling to Northwood on the road. Despite dealing with serious injury trouble, the Chargers have racked up four wins and are playing solid defensively, holding opponents to just 63.3 points per game.
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 has missed time with an injury, but when she returns will look to build off a 2022-23 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 leads a hotly-contested series with the Pioneers 9-8, as the two teams have split their meetings each of the last two seasons. The Chargers won the most recent meeting at Malone in dominant fashion, 70-45, to avenge a 72-60 home loss earlier in the 2022-23 season.
- A three-time second-team All-G-MAC honoree, senior Sydney Mills became just the third player in Hillsdale College history and the second in G-MAC history to reach 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career after grabbing her 1,000th rebound against Quincy in a 31 point, 15 rebound performance that led to the Chargers' first win in November. She's 91 rebounds away from breaking the Hillsdale College program record set by Sandy Skaisgir in 1991. Mills also ranks in the top 10 all-time at Hillsdale in blocked shots (7th with 71) and 3-pointers made (8th with 161), while her 1,251 points rank 12th all-time in Hillsdale College history.
- Junior Caitlin Splain is on an impressive trajectory from beyond the arc – with 145 made 3-pointers through a little over 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 160, and junior Carly Callahan is climbing the list rapidly with 77 treys in two seasons as well.
- Junior Lauren McDonald has been filling up the stat sheet for the Chargers, as the guard has helped Hillsdale to a decent start. She currently ranks 17th in the G-MAC in points per game, and in the top 10 in the conference in rebounds (eighth), assists (third), and steals (7th). McDonald was a mid-year transfer from Air Force last season who showed flashes in the back-half of 2022-23, but appears to be making the leap to stardom with a full offseason with the team under her belt in 2023-24.
- Junior Kendall McCormick is starting for the Chargers for the first time in her career, and showing her bonafides as a defensive stopper. McCormick is averaging 2.8 steals per game, good for third in the G-MAC, with seven multi-steal games so far and twice tying her career high of five against both Roosevelt on Nov. 25 and Northwood on Dec. 9. The junior is putting up career-highs across the board, including 9.4 points per game after averaging 2.1 in 2022-23.
- It's early in 2023-24, but Hillsdale is currently on track to make a massive leap defensively this season. The Chargers are giving up just 63.3 points per game so far, five less than the 68.2 points they conceded in 2022-23, and more than seven points less than the 70.2 points they gave up in 2021-22. Emblematic of Hillsdale's success defensively is a stellar opponent field goal percentage – the Chargers are allowing opponents to shoot just 37.9% from the field against them, the third-best mark in the G-MAC.