Box score

March 2, 2011 – Given the location and circumstance, few wins in the history of Hillsdale College women’s basketball can compare to the classic the Chargers played Wednesday night.

In the first round of the 2011 GLIAC Women’s Basketball Tournament, Hillsdale defeated host Lake Superior State 81-79 in double overtime to advance in the postseason tournament. The unforgettable victory moves the Chargers on to Saturday afternoon’s semifinal game at Michigan Tech University at 1 p.m.

This year’s Charger team has gotten this far thanks to perseverance and an ability to overcome adversity. Those were the two reasons they won the game Wednesday night. Playing without its leading scorer in overtime, and facing a four-point deficit in the second overtime, Hillsdale dug in and found a way to win its biggest game in two years, and one of the top games in the team’s history.

Playing without leading scorer Chelsea Harrison, who fouled out early in the first overtime, the Chargers found a way to make plays, get stops, and convert chances exactly when they needed them the most in the extra sessions. Lake Superior State jumped out to a 76-72 lead in the second overtime, but Hillsdale outscored the Lakers 9-3 from there to win the game. The game-winning points were converted by sophomore guard Lea Jones, who put together the best performance of her career in this game.

Jones played all 50 minutes, a single-game school record, and scored a career-high 23 points to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and five steals. After freshman Angela Bisaro blocked a shot, Jones corralled the rebound and sprinted the length of the floor for a layup. She was fouled on the shot and made the free throw, turning the game from a one-point Hillsdale deficit into a two-point lead with 2:02 left in the game. The defense took over from there, as neither team scored another point in this battle of attrition.

Hillsdale’s defense was extremely active in those last two minutes, forcing three turnovers on three possessions by the Lakers. LSSU had one last shot at the basket, down two, and Nicole Marshall’s 3-point attempt appeared to be on target, but was just off enough to give the Chargers the dramatic victory.

With Harrison on the bench in the game’s final nine minutes, several other players stepped up to make big plays in the two overtimes for the team. Freshman Marissa DeMott scored five straight points that erased LSSU’s early four-point lead in the second overtime. DeMott finished the game with 11 points in 29 minutes, going 3-for-4 from the 3-point line.

Bisaro, also a freshman, logged a career-high 29 minutes and scored 10 points with two rebounds and two blocked shots. Many of her plays seemed to come at key times in the game. Then again, what plays in a double overtime contest aren’t crucial? Bisaro’s game was the perfect example of a young player growing up to play big in a high-pressure situation, and delivering big plays for her team.

Offensively, the Chargers turned in an efficient performance, getting 20 assists on 28 made field goals, while shooting 50 percent (8-for-16) from 3-point territory. The Lakers hurt themselves with 10 missed free throws, while the Chargers were 17-for-23 from the free throw line.

Senior forward Laura Barczak labored through 42 minutes on the court, a huge number for a post player, and finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals. She was 7-for-10 from the floor and helped hold the Lakers’ starting frontcourt players to a combined 6-for-13 shooting day from the field.

Harrison saw her 32-game streak of double-figure scoring snapped, but recovered from a scoreless first half to score nine points in the second half. Junior forward Elizabeth Brannick helped get the team off to a strong start in the game with a powerful first half. She finished the game with seven points, eight rebounds, one steal, one block and one assist in 26 minutes on the floor.

The last time the Chargers played a double-overtime game was on Jan. 21, 2006, in a 62-56 loss to Michigan Tech in Houghton. Jodies Haines' 50 minutes played that game ties the school record Jones had tonight.

Saturday’s semifinal game will mark the fifth time the Chargers have played the Huskies in the SBC Gymnasium in Houghton since February 2009. Hillsdale won the 2009 GLIAC Women’s Basketball Tournament on the MTU court, 81-69, over the Huskies on March 7, 2009, the only time in conference history the tournament has been won by someone other than the host school. This is also the fourth consecutive year Michigan Tech has hosted the semifinals and finals of the GLIAC women’s basketball tournament.