WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU women’s basketball team defended Platt Arena Tuesday night in their home opener with a 78-68 decision over the visiting Saints of Holy Cross.

The W is Huntington’s third straight double-digit victory as they improve to 3-1 overall. The win also extends HU’s win streak over Holy Cross to seven.

Playing without their starting point guard and leading scorer in Sam Hammel, the Foresters needed the first half to work out some kinks as they found themselves down 33-32 at the midway point having shot 42.9 percent (12-for-28) and committed nine turnovers.

It was an impressive turnaround for Culler’s crew as they spent the third quarter outscoring their visitors 27-15 to finally grab a lead that would stick and hover around the ten-point mark for most of the night. But the Saints didn’t make it easy. Down 66-54 with six minutes to go, Holy Cross pieced together an 8-2 run to close the gap to just six with 4:04 to go.

The HU veterans on the floor weren’t about to let things get any closer as Brooke Saylor found Maddie Richer who spotted up for her third triple of the evening to extend the lead to nine and shutdown any notion of a potential comeback.

Sarah Fryman had a breakout second half where she scored 18 of her game-high 29 points. She also snagged six rebounds, four offensive, and handed out two assists. Richer finished with 13 points and a team-high four dimes.

Saylor rounded out HU’s double-digit scoring with ten points to go along with eight boards. The Penn High School duo of Sara Doi and Casey Morton added nine and eight points respectively. Morton also ripped down eight rebounds.

Alex Forster and Keysha Streater each tossed in 18 points for the Saints. Arielle Thatcher collected 13 while Jessica Norris posted 11 points.

The Foresters are back in action on Saturday when they host Judson at 7:00 p.m.