The Hillsdale College women's basketball team couldn't battle back from a first half deficit in a tough road loss at Ohio Dominican on Saturday, 81-69.

The Chargers traded the lead back and forth with the host Panthers in the first quarter, trailing 16-15 at the break, and held a 20-19 lead after a Sarah Aleknavicius 3-pointer at the 9:13 mark in the second quarter.

From there, however, ODU pulled ahead for good with a 13-0 run, kick-started by back-to-back 3-pointers, that turned Hillsdale's one-point edge into a 12-point deficit. From there, the Chargers never retook the advantage, trailing the rest of the way as the Panthers' hot shooting allowed them to check any second-half runs by the Chargers.

ODU shot 50.9% from the floor and were 17 of 23 from the line, getting the Chargers in foul trouble and taking full advantage of it to pull away in the second half.

Hillsdale shot just 40% from the floor in the loss, though the Chargers did hit nine 3-pointers. ODU was more aggressive getting to the rim, outscoring Hillsdale 40-26 on points in the paint.

Hillsdale's two leading scorers had solid contests despite the loss. Junior Savannah Smith continued her recent tear with 22 points, her fourth game with 20 or more points in her last nine starts, and also chipped in seven points and two steals, while Annalise Pietrzyk knocked down three 3-pointers and finished with 19 points and five assists.

Aleknavicius chipped in 10 points, four rebounds and three assists for Hillsdale, while Emma Ruhlman added eight points and four rebounds for the Chargers as well.

Hillsdale is now 14-10 overall, 10-8 in G-MAC play, and sit in a three way tie for fifth place in the conference with two regular season games remaining. The Chargers still have a shot at snagging the fourth seed in the G-MAC Tournament  and a home quarterfinal game if it can win both those final two contests and get some help, but the Chargers also could drop out of the G-MAC Tournament entirely with two losses and other results going against them.

The week that will determine the fate of Hillsdale's season starts on Thursday with a 5:30 p.m. contest against Findlay, who is tied with Hillsdale for fifth along with Ashland, in Dawn Tibbetts Potter Arena. Hillsdale wraps up the regular season on Saturday with another home contest against the regular season G-MAC champion, Northwood, at 1 p.m.