WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

In a clash between two undefeated teams, the IU South Bend Titans held the upper hand over the #RV HU women’s basketball team 80-71. The loss drops the Foresters to 3-1 while IUSB remains spotless at 5-0.

The Titans’ bread and butter so far this season has been their trapping full court press and ability to knock down the long ball and today was no different. The hosts forced several early TOs in the back court which fueled their fire to the tune of a 26-11 advantage within the first seven minutes of play. The frenzied start saw the Titans connect on ten of their first 11 shots which included two from downtown.

A quick timeout settled the Foresters down as they went on to hold IUSB scoreless the rest of the quarter to cut the deficit to 26-15 after the first ten minutes. HU methodically scratched and clawed their way back into the contest, outscoring their hosts by six in the second quarter to head into intermission down by five at 40-35.

Sarah Fryman came out of halftime with a vengeance to bury a three on the opening possession after which she slithered her way through the lane for a layup to force a 40-40 stalemate just over a minute into the third. It was a battle after that as the quarter featured five more ties and four lead changes. Huntington enjoyed its first lead at the 2:08 mark when Cindy In’t Groen scored down low for a 54-52 tilt before the Titans slipped in front 57-56 just before the final break.

Fryman finished with 13 points in the third while In’t Groen tallied seven. Together the pair accounted for 20 of their team’s 21 points in the quarter. In’t Groen continued her tear by scoring on the opening possession of the fourth for HU’s final lead of the contest at 58-57 before the Titans tapped into one of their cash cows.

While the Foresters had figured out the Titans’ press by the second quarter, they weren’t able to contain IUSB’s sharp shooters down the stretch. IUSB entered the game ranked 5th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage (.432) and more than lived up to that ranking by converting 53.3 percent of their triples on this given night.

After knocking down four threes through the first three quarters, IU South Bend unleashed for three in the first three minutes of the fourth to take the period’s largest lead up to that point at 66-60. They went on to drain another with three minutes remaining to grow the advantage to double digits at 73-62 before the Foresters made one final push.

HU gave the Titans a taste of their own medicine as three different Foresters in Erica Zook, Fryman and Sara Doi each connected from long range to trim the lead back to two possessions at 77-71 with 27 ticks remaining. But so began the march to the free throw line where the hosts got the job done to preserve the win.

Fryman topped all scorers with 32 points to go along with a game-tying seven rebounds. In’t Groen tossed in 13. The 5-10 forward also ripped down six boards. Doi added nine points and two steals off the bench. Sam Hammel dished out a game-best seven dimes in addition to netting seven points.

As a team, the Foresters went 19-for-21 from the charity stripe to sizzle the nets at 90.5 percent. They connected on 47.1 percent of their field goals by going 24-for-51.

Maddy Schumacher paced the Titans with 20 points. Kyleigh Kubik and Taitlyn Trenshaw added 12 points apiece while Maddie Gard finished with 11.

Huntington returns to the friendly confines of Platt Arena on Tuesday to host Rochester at 7:00 p.m.