Lady Jackets Clinch G-MAC Regular Season Title with Victory Over Hillsdale

by Josh Decker

The Cedarville Lady Jackets’ pulled off an impressive road victory Saturday afternoon, defeating Hillsdale 92-72 to clinch the 2020-2021 G-MAC regular season title. With the win, the Jackets’ finish the regular season 18-4 and head into the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed in the G-MAC.

Junior Emily Chapman highlighted the Cedarville offensive, pouring in a career high 31 points to go with nine rebounds.

“We knew we had to win today to clinch the regular season title,” said Chapman about the Jackets’ performance. “We had the mindset of ‘We are not losing,’ and we went out there, competed as a team, and got the job done.”

Five Lady Jackets finished the game in double figures. In addition to Chapman’s 31 points, Isabelle Bolender dropped 20, Paige Garr and Allison Mader each scored 12, and Anne Wheeler added 10.

Cedarville used a strong 38-point fourth quarter to seal the victory over the Chargers. The Jackets’ finished the contest shooting 49 percent from the field and 45 percent from behind-the-arc.

Cedarville dominated the boards, finishing with a 42-32 advantage over Hillsdale, and also forced 15 turnovers which led to 25 points for the Jackets.

The Lady Jackets’ will now prepare for the G-MAC tournament, which starts March 2nd.

“Going into the tournament, we have to take each game one at a time, focusing on the opponent in front of us and not looking ahead to any other games,” said Chapman. “All of us are excited and determined to come out with the championship. We’ve put the work in since September, and now we are ready to prove ourselves to everyone.”

Chapman and the Jackets’ are scheduled to face off against Malone in the first round of the G-MAC tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for Tuesday, March 2nd at 6:30 p.m. in the Callan Athletic Center.

Josh Decker is a junior Sport Business Management major, and a sports reporter for Cedars. He loves playing sports with friends, and spends much of his free time as a student assistant for the Cedarville men’s basketball team.