In a classic contest, the Hillsdale College women's basketball game snapped a 14-game losing streak to visiting Ashland by the slimmest of margins, closing out a 53-52 victory in the final seconds.
The Chargers trailed 49-44 with 4:45 to play but held Ashland scoreless for the next three minutes, stringing together a 9-0 run to take the lead late. Four different players scored for the Chargers during that stretch, with
Emma Ruhlman sinking a critical 3-pointer with 2:53 to go to give the Chargers the lead for the first time since the second quarter, 51-49, and
Ellie Bruce added a crucial layup on a pick and roll with
Magdalena Sularski to put the Chargers up by four with two minutes to play.
Hillsdale had to weather a late storm to come away with the victory, as Ashland's Ashley Mullet hit a clutch 3-pointer to cut the Chargers' lead to one with 1:32 to play. Hillsdale didn't score in the final 90 seconds but got a huge defensive stop on Ashland's next possession. The Eagles got the ball back down 53-52 with 12 seconds to play and drew a shooting foul to go to the line with 0.8 seconds on the clock and a chance to tie or take the lead, but Ashland couldn't convert on either free throw and there wasn't enough time left on the clock for the Eagles to do anything else as Hillsdale held on for the win.
The Chargers got over the finish line thanks to a career night for
Savannah Smith, who was unstoppable in the paint despite Ashland throwing a variety of defensive adjustments her way to try and slow her down. On a night of difficult offense for both teams, Smith scored a career-high 27 of Hillsdale's 53 points on 11 of 19 shooting from the floor and added 12 rebounds for her first career double-double. Every single basket was critical for the Chargers in the victory and Smith was the hub offensively for Hillsdale, touching the ball on nearly every possession in the second half.
Annalise Pietrzyk chipped in an important 13 points for the Chargers,
Emilia Sularski hit two 3-pointers off the bench, and Ruhlman finished with the critical 3-pointer and a team-high eight rebounds on the day.
In an otherwise even game, Hillsdale outscored Ashland 32-22 on points in the paint, and did an important job defensively, holding the Eagles to just 35.7% shooting from the floor to earn the win.
It's a huge victory for the Chargers, as it's Hillsdale's first win over Ashland since January 25, 2014, almost 12 years to the day since the last Chargers victory in the series. The victory also gets the Chargers back to .500 in G-MAC play at 5-5, 9-7 overall, and gives Hillsdale a two game edge over the chasing pack for for the eighth and final G-MAC Tourney berth at the halfway point in the conference season.
Hillsdale will look to build off this victory next week, as the Chargers hit the road to Ursuline for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off in Pepper Pike, Ohio next Thursday.
