January 31, 2009 – Putting together a second straight outstanding defensive effort, the Hillsdale College women’s basketball team comes home from the first of two trips to the Upper Peninsula with a victory.

The Chargers, ranked seventh in the nation, improved to 17-2 on the season with a 61-49 win over Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie Saturday afternoon. The Chargers remain in first place in the GLIAC South Division with a 12-2 conference record.

For the second game in a row, Hillsdale held its opponent to less than 50 points, a feat even more impressive coming against a good-shooting team on its home court. The Lakers are now 13-9 overall and 6-8 in the conference. LSSU is the only team to defeat the current number one team in the nation, Alaska-Anchorage. The Chargers swept the Lakers in their season series this year.

The Chargers held the Lakers to 33 percent shooting from the field and limited the team to 27 or less points in each half. Although Hillsdale had offensive struggles of its own at times in the game, the team once again came through with difference-making plays when they counted the most.

In a tightly played second half, the Chargers never allowed the Lakers to pull closer than five points down. Maintaining a lead of at least “two possessions” helped Hillsdale to stay true to its most effective sets on both ends of the court while keeping control of the pace of the game.

A 3-pointer by the Lakers made it a 52-46 game with 2:34 left in the first half. But Hillsdale finished the game strong, outscoring LSSU 9-3 to close out the contest.

Junior guard Brooke Knight scored seven points in the game, but it was when she scored them that made all the difference. She converted a three-point play with 2:53 left to push the Chargers from a six-point lead into a nine-point edge, 52-43. A play like that is huge in keeping momentum and the scoreboard on Hillsdale’s side. Knight later nailed a jump shot that put Hillsdale up by seven with 1:04 left in the game.

Senior forward Katie Cezat faced one of her toughest matchups of the season in Lake Superior State’s frontcourt duo of Alyssa VanderWal and Jaclyn Armstrong. But that didn’t stop Cezat from turning in another dominant performance. She finished the game with 27 points, 23 rebounds and two blocked shots. She had a nine-point scoring outburst in a three-minute span that helped put Hillsdale ahead 49-39 with 6:03 left in the contest. Amongst that scoring run was Cezat’s third 3-point field goal of the season. She is shooting 75 percent from the field this season from beyond the arc.

With her numbers Saturday, Cezat moved into sixth place on Hillsdale’s career scoring list (1,320 points) and into third place on the school’s career rebounds list (738). She now has five 20-rebound games this season, and was just three boards shy of the school record she set last weekend against Tiffin.

Cezat also set another school record Saturday. She was 12-for-12 from the free throw line, setting a new mark for most made free throws in a game without a miss. The cutoff for the GLIAC record for most made free throws in a game without a miss is 14.

Senior guard Claire Aubrey scored 11 points and played a terrific first half, particularly during a 13-0 Hillsdale run that put the team into the lead for good.

Hillsdale will play six of its next eight games at home, starting Thursday night when the Chargers host Ferris State University at Jesse Philips Arena starting at 6 p.m.

To view the statistics from Saturday’s game, click on the link below.

Box score