The Hillsdale College women's basketball team saw a program record set and nearly pulled off a second epic comeback this season against Northwood, but the Chargers came up short to the visiting Timberwolves in the end, 85-81, on Saturday.

Hillsdale trailed Northwood by as many as 13 points in the second half and by 11 early in the fourth quarter, but went on a 19-6 run over eight minutes in the fourth that erased the deficit, taking an 81-79 lead on a turnaround jumper by Lauren McDonald with 1:34 to play. 

Northwood, however, was able to force a critical steal and tie the game on free throws, and Hillsdale came up empty on two trips at the other end while the Timberwolves made a go-ahead layup with 38 seconds to play and sunk two free throws with 15 seconds to go to seal the victory.

Hillsdale withstood a devastating 3-point barrage by Northwood, who shot 9 of 17 from beyond the arc in the first half and made 12 on the day, but Northwood's 52 first half points got the Timberwolves in position to seal the win late despite the Charger comeback.

McDonald led the Chargers with 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals in a stellar performance, and Ellie Bruce posted career highs in both points and rebounds on the way to an 18 point, 10 rebound double-double.

Senior Caitlin Splain chipped in 10 points and her two made 3-pointers broke a tie with Chelsea Harrison and set the program's all-time record for made 3-pointers. Splain now has 239 career makes with today's total, surpassing the 237 totaled by Harrison from 2008 to 2012.

Emma Ruhlman added 11 points for the Chargers, Annalise Pietrzyk chipped in nine on 3 for 6 shooting from 3-point range, and Marilyn Popplewell just missed a double-double of her own with eight points and nine rebounds.

Hillsdale was badly outshot in the contest in terms of percentages but stayed in the game and gave themselves a chance to win with an epic rebounding performance, outboarding the Timberwolves 45 to 25 and pulling down 21 offensive rebounds that led to 23 second-chance points. The Chargers' 21 offensive rebounds were a season high and the most since a Jan. 2, 2023 win over Roosevelt where Hillsdale pulled down 23.

Hillsdale falls to 16-8 overall, 13-4 in league play but remain a game up on Findlay and a game and a half up on Northwood for third place in the G-MAC standings. The Chargers have just three games left in the regular season and face a huge road showdown at Findlay this coming Thursday that could determine third place in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament, and keep Hillsdale's hopes of passing Malone for the second seed alive.

Photo by Vincent Hill