February 23, 2006
By Elisabeth Meinecke
Collegian Reporter

The Hillsdale Charger women’s basketball team went 0-2 this week, losing at home on Saturday to Grand Valley State University and at Northwood on Monday evening.

The Chargers now have a record of 17-9 and a division record of 10-5 going into their final game of the regular season.

The Chargers considered winning at Northwood particularly important after the loss to Grand Valley State University two days before.

“We need to win,” junior Jessie Miller said before the game. “We need to go into Northwood’s gym with a no lose attitude.”

The Chargers were able to keep the score close despite losing two starters for extended periods during the game. The score was tied 64-64 with under a minute left before Northwood added five points in the final seconds, bringing the end score to 69-64.

Two Charger juniors, Nikki Wustman and Jodie Haines, left the court with injuries but were able to return by the end of the game.

Wustman finished the game with 18 points and senior Gretchen Rocco finished with 12 points.

The game was initially scheduled for last Thursday but was moved to Monday because of severe weather.

The loss ensured the Chargers would finish second in the GLIAC South Division this season. They had a chance to move into first place by beating Grand Valley State on Saturday but lost the game 55-41. It was Hillsdale’s lowest scoring home game this season.

Junior Jessie Miller said the momentum never really turned in favor of the Chargers.

“[GVSU] came out strong,” she said. “[They] led by ten or fifteen throughout the game. Grand Valley is a very good team, and in order to win we definitely had to rebound a lot better. We held their leading scorer scoreless, and we didn't feed off that.”

Senior Gretchen Rocco scored 11 points for the Chargers, followed by junior Jenn Carlson’s nine points and six points each from Wustman and Haines.

Defensively, the Chargers kept Niki Reams, the GLIAC women’s basketball Player of the Year, from scoring for Grand Valley State. Grand Valley State is ranked fourteenth nationally and has only lost three games this season.

Miller said the physical intensity of Grand Valley State was also challenging for the Chargers to match.

“GVSU was very physical and sometimes we tend to play less physical with physical teams,” she said. “They have a way of being physical without committing fouls.”

The Chargers’ final game of the regular season will be at Wayne State on Feb. 25 at 1 p.m.

The Chargers will return home the following Tuesday to play Gannon University in the first round of the GLIAC tournament games. The game will be at 7 p.m. on Feb. 28.

The Chargers have faced Gannon twice already this season and have won both times. Gannon is currently third in the South Division behind Hillsdale and first place Ashland University.