The Hillsdale College women's basketball team fought hard in the second half but ultimately couldn't overcome a halftime deficit in a 73-61 road loss at Davenport on Sunday.
The Chargers scored 17 or more points in three of the four quarters but were undone by a rough second period offensively, as Hillsdale scored just eight points and the host Panthers took advantage to turn a tie game after one quarter into a 34-26 halftime lead.
Hillsdale tried its best to rally in the second half, cutting the deficit to either five or six points three times in the third quarter, but each time, Davenport hit back with a run of its own to stretch the lead back to double digits.
The Chargers made one final push late, cutting Davenport's lead to seven on a Grace Touchette jumper with 2:14 to play. But the Panthers scored the next six points to put the game out of reach for good, and made enough free throws down the stretch to prevent any hope of a comeback from forming.
Hillsdale shot only slightly worse than Davenport in the loss, but conceded six extra shot attempts as the Panthers grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to Hillsdale's three. That was part of a tough night for the Chargers on the boards, as Davenport outrebounded Hillsdale 48-26 in the game.
Touchette finished with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists to lead the Chargers, while sophomore Carly Callahan gave Hillsdale a lift off the bench as well, scoring 13 points on 50% shooting from the floor, including three made 3-pointers. Peighton Nelson chipped in 11 points and three assists as well for Hillsdale, while Sydney Mills added nine points, four rebounds and two blocks and Caitlin Splain finished with eight points and three steals off the bench as well.
Hillsdale is now 3-3 overall heading into G-MAC play, and kicks off its conference schedule with a tough road trip to Cedarville on Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. tip. The Yellowjackets are 1-3 on the season but played a tough schedule and were predicted to finish with a similar record to the Chargers in the preseason G-MAC poll, making this a critical early chance for Hillsdale to establish itself in the conference standings.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan