December 4, 2008 - For a game in early December, Thursday night's clash between 10th-ranked Hillsdale College and 13th-ranked Lake Superior State carried a significant edge that can only come from two very talented basketball teams playing one another. And in the end, it was the host Chargers putting an important notch in the win column.

Overcoming foul trouble to two key players, Hillsdale hung on for a 71-61 victory over the Lakers Thursday night at the Jesse Philips Arena in the GLIAC season opener for both teams. In this battle of unbeaten teams, Hillsdale comes away with its perfect record intact, now 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the GLIAC. LSSU fell to 6-1 and 0-1 in the GLIAC with the loss.

Both teams carry aspirations of long postseason runs into this season, making this an intense matchup in the Chargers' home regular season opener of 2008-09. Hillsdale played with the appropriate intensity level in the first half when it played outstanding defense, carrying a 34-23 lead into the locker room.

The 11-point lead would turn out to be critical after an evenly played second half that saw the Lakers play well enough to make the Chargers work for every point and defensive stop.

Teh game pitted three of the best post players in the GLIAC, with Hillsdale's Katie Cezat facing off with the Lakers' terrific duo of Jaclyn Armstrong and Alyssa VanderWal. Cezat was often the focus of double teams when she had the ball, but still found a way to be a difference-maker.

Cezat finished with 17 points, 21 rebounds and a school-record six blocked shots in the game. As a team, Hillsdale blocked nine shots in the game, just one shy of the school record.

Cezat's 21 rebounds are a season-high, and the third time she's had a 20-rebound game in her career.

With all the attention given to Cezat, her teammates took full advantage of their opportunities to score big points. Junior guard Brooke Knight scored 12 of her season-high 14 points in the second half, including a big 3-point basket right after Cezat had to sit down with her fourth foul.

Senior forward Katie Eckinger played a key role in getting the Chargers off to their good start by hitting her first three shots, scoring seven of the team's first 10 points. Eckinger finished with 11 points on the night.

The Lakers came out aggressively in the second half, quickly cutting Hillsdale's 11-point lead to seven after a layup by VanderWal. But like they've done in their first five games, the Chargers counterpunched with a 15-6 run that took the lead back to 16 points. Four different players scored points during the run for the Chargers.

A season-high five players scored in double figures for Hillsdale, including freshman guard Chelsea Harrison, who had 12 points, draining three 3-point field goals. Junior Janay Miller provided a real spark off the bench with 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field.

Hillsdale's defense held Lake Superior State to 37 percent shooting from the field, and outscored the Lakers 24-9 from beyond the 3-point stripe.

The Chargers are next in action Sunday afternoon at Saginaw Valley State University for a 2 p.m. contest.

To view the statistics from Thursday's game, click on the link below.

Box score