A huge game from junior
Annalise Pietrzyk wasn't enough for the Hillsdale College women's basketball team on Saturday, as the Chargers came up short in the second half to Walsh, 72-63.
Pietrzyk finished with 28 points and three assists on 10 of 19 shooting from the floor and and 6 of 11 from 3-point range, but Hillsdale couldn't keep pace offensively with the Cavaliers in the second half.
The two teams traded the lead back and forth in the first half in a competitive and tightly played contest, and Hillsdale took the lead with 2:12 to play in the second quarter on a
Savannah Smith layup that put the Chargers up 31-30. That, however, would be the last time Hillsdale was up in the contest, as Walsh ended the half on a 6-0 run to go into halftime up 36-31, then scored the first two baskets of the second half to stretch their lead to nine.
Hillsdale refused to go away, cutting into the lead repeatedly and getting as close as 42-39 on an
Annalise Pietrzyk layup with 3:19 left in the third quarter, but every time the Chargers closed the gap, Walsh had an answer. The Cavaliers used a 7-0 run at the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter to push the lead to double-digits, and while Hillsdale kept Walsh from pulling away, the Chargers couldn't string together the scores and stops necessary to catch up with Walsh in the fourth.
Along with Pietrzyk's big night, Hillsdale got 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals from senior
Emma Ruhlman, and Smith added eight points and four rebounds.
Ellie Bruce added six points and a team-high eight rebounds, while
Sarah Aleknavicius, back from injury and playing in her first game in nearly a month, chipped in four assists.
Hillsdale shot a respectable 46.3% from the floor and made nine 3-pointers, but couldn't match the Cavaliers, who shot 52.8% from the floor. Walsh used transition opportunities to avoid going up against Hillsdale's stout half-court defense, scoring 20 fast-break points and turning 20 Hillsdale turnovers into 23 points.
Hillsdale is now 10-8 overall, 6-6 in the G-MAC, and face a critical homestand to open the month of February next week. The Chargers are still 7-0 at home and face back-to-back contests in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena against teams chasing them in the standings, with Tiffin on Thursday and Ohio Dominican on Saturday. Beating both would nearly lock in Hillsdale's spot in the G-MAC Tourney in March, but losses would open the door for both teams to overtake them down the stretch.
