Last weekend the women’s basketball team braved the 10-hour drive and foot of snow to start their season with two wins in the Upper Peninsula.
The Chargers defeated Illinois-Springfield 92-62 on Friday and McKendree University 71-61 on Saturday. Both games were played at Lake Superior State University’s Bud Cooper Gymnasium.
On Friday, the Chargers gained a large lead early in the game allowing head coach Claudette Charney to award playing time to every player. No player was on the court for over 20 minutes, and the team put up 52 points from the bench.
“Being able to have that depth is going to be really awesome,” senior Brooke Borowski said. “If there is any time that we get into foul trouble we’re not going to be in a tough situation because there will be multiple girls in multiple positions that we can go to.”
In her 20 minutes on the court, senior Megan Fogt led the team, scoring 18 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Freshman Allie Dittmer starred in her collegiate debut scoring eight points in a 13-0 Charger run in the first half. Dittmer finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds.
Borowski said that Dittmer and Fogt will be a dangerous duo for the team this year as strong post players.
“Allie’s going to take attention off of Megan,” Borowski said. “Teams won’t be able to put all of the pressure on one post player, they’ll have to work on both.”
Five players, including Dittmer and Fogt, scored in double-digits, helping the Chargers score the most points in a regulation game since January 2010.
Saturday’s win came in a tighter contest against McKendree University, a team that defeated the Chargers last season. Borowski said the Bearcat’s play is similar to the level of play the Chargers will face in the GLIAC.
“They’re a more athletic team so it was nice to be in a closer game to really test our skills as a team to make us really take our time and not get rushed with pressure,” Borowski said. “It was great to have that early on in the season.”
Playing time in this game was spread over fewer players. Still, thirteen players hit the court and eight different players scored, including Borowski with nine points and junior Kayla Geffert with six. Dittmer came off the bench to put up twelve points in her second double-digit game.
Fogt had her second double-double game, leading her team once again with 26 points and 13 rebounds. In the second half of the game, Fogt scored her 1,000th career point, making her the 14th player in Charger women’s basketball history to do so. Fogt’s dominating first weekend led her to be selected as the GLIAC North Division Player of the Week on Monday.
Despite her successes, Fogt prefers to shine the spotlight on her team rather than herself.
“Hitting my 1,000 this weekend was really cool, but it was so much better ending up 2-0,” she said. “Our entire team played really well and we had contribution from a ton of players.”
Before the Chargers enter GLIAC play, they will match up against Eastern Michigan University on the road next Tuesday. After a strong 2-0 start, junior Ashlyn Landherr said she is ready for the team to be tested against tougher competition.
“We’re all really excited about how good we’re going to be this year and that we have a lot of potential,” Landherr said. “Eastern is going to be a good test for us to see how we match up against a more athletic and better Division I team.”