WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU women’s basketball team moved into 4th in the league standings with a 65-40 win over #RV Mount Vernon Nazarene University (14-8, 6-4) Saturday afternoon at Ariel Arena. The Foresters are now 13-8 overall, 6-4 in league play.

Huntington has won four of its last five games with its only loss, a 61-60 decision, coming to #5 Marian. The W is just the second time since Mount Vernon joined the league that Culler’s crew has won on the road against the Cougars.

The Foresters made it look easy. The only time they didn’t hold a lead was just over two minutes into the contest when Natalie Carpenter, the Cougars’ leading scorer, knocked down a pair of freebies for a 2-2 tie.

But it was a fleeting moment as Maddie Richer did what she does best by draining a triple to establish a permanent lead for her team. The 5-5 point guard currently ranks 7th in the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage with her .500 accuracy rate.

After that, the four other Foresters on the floor recorded at least three points each to send HU to the bench for its first break with an 18-11 advantage. After a traditional three-point play in the first quarter, Brooke Saylor paced HU in the second stanza with seven points to swell the lead to 18, 38-20, by intermission.

There was no going back after that as Huntington continued to distance themselves from their hosts. It was a 25-point difference at the end of the third and that gap stood until the final buzzer to make for the lopsided win. While HU’s offense was solid, it was their stingy defense that stood the test of time.

It was the second straight time HU limited their opponent to 40 points or less and the seventh time this season Huntington has given up less than 45 points. Culler’s crew tops the league and ranks 12th nationally in defense by allowing less than 58 points per game on average.

Mount Vernon entered the day shooting nearly 42 percent as a team but on this given day, HU held them to 28.6 percent (16-for-56). The Cougars scored 27 points less than their season average with 40 points serving as their lowest offensive output of the year. Their previous season-low was 50 points.

Only Taylor Gregory and Carpenter finished in double digits for the Cougars with 12 and 11 points respectively.

The nation’s leading rebounder in Saylor continued her tear on the boards by yanking down a game-best 20 rebounds, six of which were offensive. She also tossed in ten points, all in the first half, in addition to handing out a team-high five assists.

Sarah Fryman flipped flopped with Saylor by scoring ten of her team-best 12 points in the second half. Richer collected 11 points and three assists while Hailey Krewald tossed in ten to go along with nabbing five steals.

The Foresters owned the glass by 43-26 tilt. As a team, Culler’s squad shot 45.6 percent from the field (26-for-57) and 75.0 percent from the line (9-for-12).

Huntington is back on the road on Wednesday to face Bethel College at 7:00 p.m.