WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The #22 Huntington women’s basketball team outscored #RV Mount Vernon 26-12 in the third quarter to turn a barnburner at Platt Arena into a double-digit affair for an eventual 83-71 final favoring the hosts. The W snaps MVNU’s five-game win streak and moves HU to 14-3 on the year, 3-2 in league play. The victory is also Huntington’s third straight over the Cougars.

While the third quarter was the difference in the contest, the Foresters started their surge just before halftime by outscoring their visitors 14-5 to turn a 30-23 deficit into a 37-35 lead by the break. Sarah Fryman and Sara Doi fueled HU’s run by scoring five points apiece.

MVNU (13-4, 3-2) opened the second half by knotting things up at 37s for the game’s third and final tie after which four different Foresters scored to swell the lead to eight by the 7:11 mark. The Cougars cut it to six at 45-39 within the next 60 seconds but Erin Mohr field goals on either side of an Alaina Rongos bucket down low pushed lead to 12 and there was no looking back after that.

Fryman put the exclamation point on the quarter with a buzzer-beating three for a commanding 16-point lead of 63-47 heading into the fourth. Culler and crew grew their advantage to as many as 20 before settling for the 11-point dub. It’s HU’s tenth double-digit win of the season.

Defensively, the Foresters forced a Cougar squad that entered the evening averaging just over 13 TOs per game into 20 on this given night. The pay-off was 27 points. Culler and company also limited MVNU to three offensive boards, seven below their season average.

Fryman poured in a game-best 30 points. It marks the third time this year she’s dropped in at least 30 points. The 5-9 forward currently lead the NAIA Division II in scoring by tossing in 23.2 points per night. She also pulled down a game-high seven boards and dished out four assists.

Mohr racked up 14 points on 7-for-9 shooting and nabbed three steals. Sam Hammel put up some impressive numbers too by tossing in nine points to go along with seven assists, five steals and four rebounds. Doi finished with nine points off the bench while Alexandria Bope added eight points and tracked down seven boards to share game-high rebounding honors with Fryman and MVNU’s Taylor Gregory.

For the Cougars, Gregory, averaging a double double, collected 20 points as did Maggie Coe.

The Foresters are back in the friendly confines of Platt Arena on Saturday to host Bethel at 1:00 p.m.