WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The #21 HU women’s basketball team didn’t have an answer for the guard play of the Lancers of Grace College (9-2, 2-1) Saturday afternoon at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. The starting back court of GC combined for 66 points on the way to picking off the Foresters 88-73.

The loss is Huntington’s first league loss as they drop to 10-2 overall, 2-1 in the CL.

The afternoon started as so many Crossroads League matchups do with both teams vying for any sort of advantage but with just over two minutes left in the half and the score knotted at 33-33, it turned into the Vironnica Drake show. The senior guard buried three threes and scored on a layup to single handedly give her team an eight-point advantage, 44-36, by intermission. She picked up where she left off to start the third by ripping off another seven points to extend the lead to 15 at 53-38.

Kyannah Stull took her turn after that to pour in eight points over the next two minutes to give Grace its largest lead of the day, 67-44, with 2:18 left in the quarter. From the two-minute mark of the second quarter to the two-minute mark of the third, the Foresters managed just 11 points and it was that stretch that did the visitors in.

But there’s never any quit in Culler’s crew. After outscoring their hosts by ten in the final two minutes of the third, HU headed into the final quarter down 71-58. Sara Doi continued the Forester comeback by dropping in a three from the corner and a floater in the lane to account for five of HU’s next 11 points to erase the lead down to six at 73-67 with six minutes to go.

Unfortunately, the run came at a cost as a gassed Forester defense gave up a layup to Drake and then back-to-back threes to Kamryn Hostetler over a two-minute span to balloon the lead back to double digits at 81-67. It was the beginning of the end after that as the Lancers cruised to the 15-point win.

As has been the case all season, Sarah Fryman was a picture of consistency for the Foresters. After pouring in 12 points in the first quarter, the 5-9 forward finished with a game-best 32 points. She also ripped down ten boards for her second double double of the season.

Erin Mohr and Sam Hammel each added ten points. Mohr also swiped two steals while Hammel corralled nine rebounds and handed out five dimes. Doi finished with nine points off the bench.

As a team, the Foresters knocked down 46.8 percent of their shots (29-for-62) and finished 10-for-11 from the line for 90.9 percent.

Drake poured in 26 points to pace the Lancers while Hostetler and Stull tossed in 22 and 19 respectively. The trio accounted for 12 of their team’s 14 triples.

HU has over a week’s break before playing back-to-back games in Puerto Rico on December 16 and 17.