“She beat us a couple years at Malone when I was at Cedarville,” Hoffman said. “We knew about her competitiveness. We’ve watched her game for years.”
Hutchison remembers those matchups well.
“It was always great competition because we were rivals. There was one time where they had pink confetti come down (early in the game), and they took a technical foul from it. We ended up winning by two because of the technical,” Hutchison said with a laugh.
Malone had to wait until the floor was swept and took the celebration as an insult.
“Our coach said, ‘They think they can do this in OUR game?’ That kind of fired us up.”
The 5-foot-7 fifth-year guard — who averaged 18.1 points last season and made the Great Midwest Conference all-defensive team — has brought a much-needed on-the-court edge to the Raiders, who are off to a promising 6-3 start.
She poured in 32 points in an 81-67 home win over Eastern Illinois on Saturday, tying the fourth-highest single-game tally by a Horizon League player this season.
She went 6 of 8 on 3′s, which hasn’t exactly been her forte. Going into the game, she was shooting 24.5% from the arc.
“I’m not known for being a good 3-point shooter. I’m way more of a driver. I like to finish inside so I can get ‘and-ones,’” said Hutchison, who was named the HL’s player of the week on Monday.
Though she can’t really explain it, she added of her breakout game, “The hoop just looked big.”
She leads the Raiders in scoring with an 18.7 average and also is first in assists (3.4), second in steals (1.7) and third in rebounding (4.3).
“She’s really, really developed, and that’s a testament to her work ethic and her coaches at Malone,” Hoffman said.
“We’re lucky we got the final product for her fifth year because it’s a pretty good product.”
The Raiders had another roster overhaul in the offseason, bringing in seven new players.
They’re getting key contributions from another transfer, Layne Ferrell, a 6-2 guard from Akron who is averaging 11.4 points. And the newcomers have meshed with the returnees.
Though the meat of the schedule is still to come, they look as if they’ll blow past the combined win totals of the last two years when they went 4-19 and 8-24.
“I think we’re super dangerous. We’re such a threat on offense and defense,” Hutchison said.
“People are underestimating us, which I actually kind of love. I love being the underdog when you play big teams — because they’re worried more than me.”
Hutchison has surprised herself, having been unsure about the jump to D-I.
“When I came in this summer at Wright State, I just knew I had to play with a chip on my shoulder every single day to prove to myself and my coaches that I was good enough,” she said.
“That was my mentality then — and still is, to be honest with you.”
Hoffman, though, needed no convincing.
“The best players in Division II can be really good players at mid-majors. We’ve seen that with some Cedarville girls coming over,” she said, referring to Emily Chapman and Isabelle Bolender, who were two of the team’s top scorers in 2022-23.
“Hutch is our point guard and has to make us go. She hasn’t been shooting the best, and that was something she worked on all week. To see that pay off is really satisfying.”
TUESDAY’S GAME
Bowling Green at Wright State, 11 a.m., ESPN+
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