Hillsdale 82, Michigan Tech 77

January 28, 2012 – Over the past few years, Hillsdale College women’s basketball team has played at Michigan Tech’s SDC Gymnasium seven times, compared to just two visits to Hillsdale for the Huskies. But on those rare occasions where Michigan Tech comes to Hillsdale, the results have been memorable for the Chargers.

Saturday afternoon, the Chargers put together their best effort of the season with an 82-77 victory over the 25th-ranked Huskies at Jesse Philips Arena. Hillsdale is now 10-9 overall and 6-6 in the GLIAC while MTU falls to 13-5 on the season.

The last time Michigan Tech played at Hillsdale was Feb. 20, 2010, and the Chargers rallied from a 17-point deficit with six minutes to go to pull off a remarkable win. This game didn’t feature that kind of comeback, but was an exceptionally well played game by both teams that saw Hillsdale’s combination of outside shooting and defense down the stretch help it to another big win over the Huskies.

Hillsdale held Michigan Tech without a point over the game’s last 2:57, during which the Chargers went on an 8-0 run to win the ballgame. The Charger defense stepped up in those final three minutes, and harassed the Huskies into four turnovers and three missed shots on their last seven possessions. Hillsdale held Michigan Tech without an offensive rebound on any of those misses, which was key, since the Huskies grabbed 11 offensive boards overall in the game.

Michigan Tech entered the game leading the GLIAC by allowing opponents to score an average of 55.1 points per game, 27 fewer than the Chargers scored on Saturday.

On the other end, Hillsdale was led by the guard trio of Lea Jones, Marissa DeMott and Chelsea Harrison, who each played all 40 minutes in the game, and came up with big shots at important times throughout the contest. But, it was sophomore forward Angela Bisaro who came up with the eventual game-winning basket. She drove across the lane for a layup that gave Hillsdale a 78-77 lead with 1:55 to play. It was a huge shot for Bisaro, who enjoyed a nice bounce-back game with nine points and three rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench.

Jones played another spectacular game, hitting four free throws in the game’s final three minutes to ensure the Charger win. She led the team with 22 points, going 7-for-14 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free throw line. Jones also had three assists and four steals in another gutty performance.

DeMott had her third 20-point game of the season, but her first since Nov. 25 in Hawaii. She made great reads in the half-court offense with the ball, made three 3-point shots and hit all seven of her free throws in the game. She also had five rebounds and three assists.

Harrison played every minute of the game for the ninth time this season. She had 12 points, five boards and three assists and hit two more 3-point shots.

With the win, the Chargers have pulled into a three-way tie, with Findlay and Grand Valley State, for sixth place in the overall conference standings.

In such a close game, free throw shooting was huge, and the Chargers stepped up to make 19 of their 22 attempts from the free throw line, while the Huskies shot an uncharacteristic 67 percent from the line. Hillsdale made four more 3-pointers than the Huskies, and shot 19 percent better from that spot on the floor. The Chargers’ starting guards outscored the Huskies’ starting guards by 24 points in the game.

Hillsdale will wrap up its current homestand Wednesday night when it hosts Lake Erie College.