Hillsdale 67, Ohio Dominican 57

February 16, 2012 – The three seniors on the Hillsdale College women’s basketball team were honored for their great careers at a halftime ceremony Thursday night. They also closed out their careers in style on the court.

The trio of Chelsea Harrison, Elizabeth Brannick and Katie Bildner scored 15 of the team’s final 18 points in a 67-57 win over Ohio Dominican University Thursday night at Jesse Philips Arena. With the win, the Chargers clinched their ninth consecutive berth in the GLIAC Tournament.

Hillsdale is 13-11 overall and 9-8 in the GLIAC, and heads north this weekend to battle Saginaw Valley State University in a 5:00 Saturday evening tilt.

Senior Night is always a memorable one for those recognized, but none took advantage of the occasion quite like Harrison, who etched her name into the record books in the game. Harrison poured in a career-high 33 points to lead all scorers, and in the process, broke the school’s all-time record for 3-pointers made in a career. Her five makes in the game give her 234, breaking the record of 232 held by Ann Iciek, a record that had stood since the 1996-97 season.

Harrison carried the team offensively through much of the game, but particularly in the first half, where she scored 19 points to help keep Hillsdale afloat during a tough start to the contest. Hillsdale trailed 30-28 at halftime, with Harrison’s points a primary reason why the game was close.

Ohio Dominican’s zone defense was tough to score on for much of the game, but as the contest wore on, the Chargers found good spots with patience and excellent ball movement. The Panthers led the game 52-48 with 7:29 left in the game when Hillsdale’s seniors took charge.

Harrison made a short jumper to make it a two-point game. Bildner sank a free throw to cut the lead to one, and Brannick shook loose under the basket for a layup off a sweet pass from Harrison to give Hillsdale the lead. The Chargers never trailed after that.

The Panthers tied the game again at 55 apiece, but Hillsdale finished the contest on a 12-2 run, with nine of those points coming from the team’s seniors.

Harrison shot 12-for-22 from the field, and 5-for-12 from 3-point land while putting together her career-high in scoring. In two games vs. Ohio Dominican this season, Harrison scored a total of 63 points.

Bildner had nine points, six rebounds and a career-high three blocked shots, while Brannick had four points and four rebounds, all four of those coming during the game-clinching 12-2 run.