WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Two teams that pride themselves on defense makes for a low-scoring affair and that’s what fans in Platt Arena witnessed Tuesday night with the #RV Forester women’s basketball team eventually topping #RV Aquinas 64-54.

HU gives up just under 60 points per night while the Saints (3-4) give up just over 60 points so the law of averages played out as expected. Tonight’s win is Huntington’s sixth consecutive over Aquinas.

Not much came easy for either team in the opening half. It was an 11-11 tie at the first break and thanks to Cindy In’t Groen sparking her team in the latter part of the second quarter, the Foresters enjoyed a 26-23 advantage at the midway point.

The 5-10 senior was instant offense. Within 30 seconds of entering the contest, In’t Groen scored on a dump down by Sam Hammel. She went on to score twice more over the next two minutes to give HU the lift it needed right before intermission.

Despite the visitors sizzling the nets to the tune of 72.7 percent in the third quarter, the Foresters still managed to outscore the Saints by six in the ten-minute span to build a nine-point cushion heading into the fourth. For Aquinas, Daz’Sha Day was nearly unstoppable, missing just one shot in the quarter to score 12 of her game-high 24 points while the Foresters got the job done by committee.

Alexandria Bope led the charge for Huntington by dropping in eight points. Hammel, Sarah Fryman and Sara Doi each added five points in the quarter with Doi’s points most notable as she canned a long ball from the corner with 27 seconds to go and then buried a buzzer-beating ten-footer to put some welcomed distance between her team and the Saints at 51-42 by the last break.

HU’s lead climbed as high as 14 but never dipped below nine the rest of the way before resting on a ten-point victory.

Fryman paced Culler’s crew with 17 points. Hammel posted a season-best 14 points in addition to enjoying game-high honors in rebounds (9), assists (7) and steals (4). Six of her nine boards were on the offensive glass.

Bope turned in one of the best performances of her time in Forester green by establishing new career highs in scoring with 12 and blocks with five. All 12 of her points came in the second half.

Day was the only Saint to score in double digits with no one else scoring more than five points.

With this W, HU extends their win streak to four as they move to 7-1 on the season. Culler and company have a week’s break before opening up conference play with a home game against Spring Arbor on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.