Caitlin Splain arrived at Hillsdale College four years ago as an unheralded walk-on.

She's going to leave it as one of the best shooters in program history and a member of a very exclusive club. 

Splain became just the 21st player in the 45-year history of the Hillsdale College women's basketball program to reach 1,000 points for her career on Thursday night as the Chargers pulled away from visiting Cedarville for a meaningful 69-51 victory at home.

The senior hit 1,000 points on the dot with a 3-pointer with 1:36 to play, giving her 13 points for the game. It's a huge accomplishment for a player who showed early promise as a freshman, carved out a key role as a sophomore and has been a major part of Hillsdale's rise in the G-MAC as a junior and senior.

Splain capped a topsy-turvy night for the Chargers, who held Cedarville without a field goal for over nine minutes in the second quarter to build a seemingly insurmountable 40-21 halftime lead.

The Yellow Jackets had other ideas, coming out firing in the third quarter and catching the Chargers off guard with a 17-0 run of their own to cut the deficit to just two points. A 3-pointer by Annalise Pietrzyk late in the third quarter ended the run and broke the spell Hillsdale seemed to be under, and the Chargers got back on track from there, outscoring Cedarville 24-12 in the final period to pull away again for a comfortable victory.

Hillsdale's twin centers had a strong game against an undersized and short-handed Yellow Jacket lineup. Savannah Smith led the way with 14 points and six rebounds for the Chargers, and Ellie Bruce added 12 points and four rebounds off the bench.

Senior Lauren McDonald came very close to a double-double as well for Hillsdale, with 11 points and nine rebounds, and also led the Chargers with six assists and three steals as well. Kendall McCormick chipped in seven points, three rebounds and three steals as well.

Hillsdale outrebounded Cedarville 39-28 and outscored the Yellow Jackets 34-18 on points in the paint. The Chargers' size also had a major impact at the defensive end, holding the Yellow Jackets to just 35.8% shooting from the floor.

The Chargers improve to 13-6 overall and 10-2 in G-MAC play with the victory, remaining in third place in the league standings with eight G-MAC games to play, and within striking distance of leader Malone with a strong finish to the conference schedule. Hillsdale finishes up a three-game homestand on Saturday with another important contest against a solid Kentucky Wesleyan team at 1 p.m.

Photo by Kenneth Gaudet