The Hillsdale women’s basketball season ended last night in the same place that it began five months ago: the Upper Peninsula. The Chargers made their fifth trip to the U.P. where they lost to the ninth-ranked Michigan Tech Huskies 67-49 last night in Houghton, Michigan in the first round of the GLIAC conference tournament.
The Chargers end their season with a 15-12 overall record and an 11-12 GLIAC record.
“We were beaten by a great team,” head coach Claudette Charney said. “We give credit to Michigan Tech, they shot well. We didn’t have a great offensive start and that hurt us.”
The Huskies started the game with an 11-point run, and held the lead for the entirety of the contest. In the first half, the Chargers committed ten turnovers which the Huskies converted to 12 points. The Huskies’ lead grew to as much as 19 points in the first half, but the Chargers were able to shorten the gap and entered halftime facing a 13-point deficit trailing 35-22.
In the second half, the Huskies refused to slow down, draining four 3-pointers in the first seven minutes. The Chargers were uncharacteristically outrebounded by the Huskies and made only 37 percent of their shots. The Chargers faced a 29-point deficit with 9:35 left in the game, but in the last ten minutes of the game a combination of Charger shooters put up 21 points to shrink the deficit.
Last night’s game was the last time seniors Brooke Borowksi, Chelsea Farrell, Megan Fogt, and Kadie Lowery suited up in Charger uniforms. The Chargers will return 14 players next season, including an experienced six-member junior class. While the women are sad to see their season end, they remain proud of their team.
“I am the most proud of our teamwork,” sophomore Becca Scherting said. “When we lose we’re upset, but we persevere and push each other to do better. We are a family.”
Fogt had a memorable final game as she grabbed nine rebounds and became the second player in school history to grab over 1,000 rebounds in a career. Fogt ended her career last night with 1,0003 rebounds. Fogt, a former First-Team All-American athlete on the court and a two-time Academic All-American in the classroom, has left behind a career that sets high standards for future Chargers basketball players.
Last Thursday, the Chargers wrapped up their regular season play at home with a loss to the Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals. Though the loss threatened to end the Chargers’ season, a complicated tiebreaker system awarded Hillsdale the eighth seed, sending the Chargers into the GLIAC tournament instead of the University of Findlay Oilers.
“Immediately after our game while we were shaking hands with SVSU I heard the announcer say that we had still made it in,” said senior Brooke Borowski. “This was a great relief.”
Though the Chargers beat the Cardinals in early February, the Cardinals played a more successful game on Thursday: shooting 52 percent from the field and dropping 18 of 22 free throws. The Chargers managed to outrebound the Cardinals but made only 37 percent of their shots.
The Chargers will enter their off-season in two weeks. Charney said her team’s next step will be “to get back to work, and get better individually.”