The Hillsdale College women's basketball team continued a recent tear with its fourth straight victory on Saturday at home, throttling Lake Erie 75-46 to improve to 4-1 in G-MAC play.

The Chargers rode their best defensive effort of the season to date to victory, holding the Storm to 16-65 shooting from the floor and 18.5% from 3-point range while never trailing in the contest. Lake Erie didn't break 30 against a locked-in Chargers defense until there were under five minutes to play in the game and Hillsdale had a 39-point lead.

A dominant first quarter set the tone for the Chargers, as Hillsdale scored on each of its first three possessions to build an early advantage and then held Lake Erie to just five first quarter points. The Chargers took a 19 point lead into halftime, then outscored Lake Erie 21-9 in the third quarter to put the Storm away for good.

Twelve different players scored for Hillsdale in a balanced effort offensively, including the first six points of Marilyn Popplewell's collegiate career, as the former Chargers volleyball star was 2 for 3 from the floor in her second game after joining the women's basketball team at Christmas break. Freshman Emilia Sularski knocked down two 3-pointers to finish with a career high six points off the bench as well.

Senior Lauren McDonald led the way for Hillsdale with a team-high 13 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Sophomore Savannah Smith added 11 points, three rebounds and three assists, and senior Caitlin Splain knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with nine points and also added a team-leading six assists and five rebounds in the victory. Kendall McCormick chipped in eight points, five rebounds and three assists for the Chargers, Emma Ruhlman added six points, four rebounds and three assists in her first collegiate start, and Annalise Pietrzyk finished with three steals in 12 minutes of action as well.

Hillsdale's four game winning streak has the Chargers sitting in a three-way tie for second place in the G-MAC standings, along with Findlay and Ashland and behind undefeated Malone. The Chargers will look to keep things rolling next week, with a home contest against Tiffin on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. next on the slate for Hillsdale.

Photo by Vinny Hill