The Hillsdale College women's basketball team played the 19th-ranked team, Ferris State, to a standstill for three of four quarters, but couldn't overcome a big third quarter by the Bulldogs in a 79-68 loss on the road on Wednesday.
The Chargers had the game tied at 33 at halftime and finished the fourth quarter in a 19-19 dead heat with the Bulldogs, as Hillsdale overcame turnover issues with strong shooting and solid rebounding in those three quarters.
Coming out of the break, however, Ferris State picked up the pressure and blitzed the Chargers to start the second half, scoring 27 third quarter points to lead by as many as 18 over Hillsdale before a late Chargers run closed the gap to 11 entering the final quarter.
That kept hope alive of a Hillsdale upset, but in the fourth Hillsdale struggled to close the gap. The Chargers kept Ferris from putting the game out of reach until the final minute, but couldn't get the Bulldogs' lead down further than nine points.
Hillsdale stayed in the game thanks to a strong performance on the glass, outrebounding Ferris 42-34 and creating 16 second-chance points. The Chargers also shot a respectable 40% from the floor and made seven 3-pointers while shooting 13 of 16 from the line, all helping them stay in the game.
In the end, however, Hillsdale couldn't overcome its 23 turnovers against a fierce Ferris State press. The Bulldogs turned those turnovers into 27 points, providing Ferris the firepower to pull away in the second half.
Junior
Annalise Pietrzyk continued to impress for the Chargers, leading the way with 17 points, five rebounds and three assists, as well as 3 for 5 shooting from 3-point range. Hillsdale's post tandem of
Ellie Bruce and
Savannah Smith also played well, with Bruce finishing with 15 points and seven rebounds and Smith chipping in 10 points, four rebounds and three assists off the bench.
Magdalena Sularski added eight points, six rebounds and four assists as well for the Chargers, and
Sarah Aleknavicius chipped in seven points and six assists as well.
Hillsdale is now 3-2 overall and is off until Dec. 6, when the Chargers open G-MAC play against Lake Erie at 1 p.m. in a home contest.
