WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Winning on the road in the Crossroads League is never easy but the #RV HU women’s basketball team (14-9, 7-5) stuck with it to pull out a 73-63 W over Spring Arbor (7-17, 3-9) Saturday afternoon at the McDonald Athletic Center.

Not much went right for the visitors through the first three quarters as they headed into the fourth down 53-44 but the Foresters stormed back for their biggest comeback of the year. With two exceptions, HU spent the final ten minutes scoring on every possession to erupt for 29 points while limiting their hosts to just ten points for a 19-point turnaround.

It felt a little like which came first, the chicken or the egg? Was it HU’s defense that spurred the offense or vice versa? Probably some of both but the common denominator was the Foresters’ intensity. Culler’s crew made big plays at both ends of the floor with different players stepping up at different times.

Brooke Saylor led the charge by scoring eight of her game-high 21 points and tracking down two of her five offensive rebounds. Casey Morton also collected eight points in the frame which included a long ball at the midway point of the quarter that capped off a 17-4 run for an HU lead of 61-57.

Sara Doi had a huge play in the final :30 seconds to rival Morton’s big three. With Huntington still clinging to a four-point lead inside a minute to play and the shot clocking winding down, Doi drove the lane for a left-handed layup with multiple defenders contesting it to extend her team’s advantage to six. It was the final dagger as Sam Hammel and Morton each hit a pair of free throws in the final :12 seconds to solidify the win.

Hammel finished the quarter with four points in addition to collecting five rebounds and dishing out three assists. These four along with Jade Clement, who swished a clutch ten-footer with two minutes to go and was locked-in defensively, played the fourth quarter in its entirety.

Several stats standout. HU converted 15 offensive boards, six from Hammel and five from Saylor, into 15 points while limiting the Cougars to four second chance points. Huntington’s bench play was also notable as they outscored SAU 25-8. The Foresters also shot their second best percentage of the season by knocking down 54.7 percent of their field goal attempts by going 29-for-53. It marked the seventh time this year HU has shot over 50.0 percent.

The first half was filled with more ups than downs for the visitors. It featured six lead changes and two ties with four points serving as HU’s largest lead of the period while SAU doubled that advantage before taking a 34-28 lead into the locker room.

Things got worse before they got better for the Foresters as they faced an 11-point deficit late in the third quarter before Saylor scored in the waning seconds. No one would have suspected how drastically different the fourth would be as it took Culler’s squad less than four minutes to draw even with the Cougs on the way to blowing past them by game’s end.

Saylor logged her second straight double double, the seventh of the year, with her 21 points and ten boards. Sarah Fryman added 17 points and three assists. Hammel did a little bit of everything for her team to finish with eight points, a career-best 14 rebounds, game-high six assists and two steals.

Doi and Morton came off the bench to net 12 and nine points respectively.

Anne Marie Wright tallied 19 points to pace Spring Arbor. Teona Feldpausch racked up 14 points while Gracie Cabana tossed in ten.

Today’s victory was the seventh consecutive W over the Cougars. Over Culler’s tenure, the Foresters are 42-14 against SAU. Next up for the Foresters is a clash with #9 Taylor on Wednesday at Odle Arena.