Over the past week, it's hard to believe there's a hotter team in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference that the Hillsdale College women's basketball team.
The Chargers wrapped up their third straight victory over that stretch on Saturday, taking down visiting Kentucky Wesleyan 73-68 in a game the Chargers led wire-to-wire.
It's not only the third straight win for the Chargers, but also the third straight win over a team that entered the contest ahead of Hillsdale in the G-MAC standings, making for an impressive series of upsets.
Against the Panthers, it was Hillsdale's first victory over KWC since 2018, as the Chargers had lost 10 straight meetings to the Panthers entering today's contest.
There was no sign of that discouraging history today, as Hillsdale jumped out to a 14-4 first quarter lead to seize control early and hammered the Panthers on the glass, outrebounding KWC 48 to 33. Nineteen of those rebounds were offensive, and the Chargers turned those second chances into a massive 24 points that helped keep the Panthers under wraps for the duration.
While Hillsdale never trailed and led by as many as 14 in the first half, putting the Panthers away for good was a full-game effort. Hillsdale led by just three entering the fourth quarter, but a combination of great defense, a timely 3-pointer by junior Lauren McDonald and a basket and free throw on a putback by Ashley Konkle helped Hillsdale pull further ahead by the six minute mark.
KWC continued to charge, but never got closer than five points to the Hillsdale lead as the Chargers handled the Panthers' defensive pressure well and shot a formidable 9 for 11 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to keep KWC at bay until the final buzzer.
McDonald finished off an impressive weekend with a game-high 15 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, while junior Caitlin Splain chipped in 14 points, four rebounds and two assists as well.
Freshman Annalise Pietrzyk had one of her best games of the season off the bench for the Chargers, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds, while Konkle and senior Sydney Mills, in her second game back from injury, each added nine points and seven rebounds as well.
Hillsdale improves to 9-8 overall, 5-4 in G-MAC play, and is above .500 in the G-MAC for the first time since Dec. 2. The Chargers have two big games next week as they look to build on their recent momentum -- a home rematch with Northwood at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday, and a road trip on Saturday to a Cedarville team that's chasing Hillsdale for a top eight spot in the standings as the conference season nears its halfway point.
Photo by Reva Ludwig