WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The #21 HU women’s basketball team dug themselves in a 22-point hole in the opening ten minutes of play and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to dig their way out to #4 Marian (18-2, 7-1) before eventually succumbing to the Knights 73-65.

Up against one of the nation’s best, it would have been easy for Huntington to roll over and die but Culler’s gutsy squad doesn’t have it in them to ever quit. Instead, they spent the final three quarters outscoring their visitors 57-43 to erase the lead down to single digits by game’s end.

Defense and crashing the boards proved the Foresters’ greatest assets of the day. The Knights had to fight for every point after that dreadful first quarter which included scoring just 11 points in the final stanza. After giving up 13 field goals in the first ten minutes, HU only allowed another13 field goals the rest of the way.

At the other end of the floor, HU tracked down 24 of their misses to the tune of 19 points. Twenty-four offensive rebounds is a season-best with Sarah Fryman and Sam Hammel leading the charge with seven and six respectively. The scrappy Foresters came within three offensive boards of matching Marian’s 27 defensive rebounds.

Hammel dropped in four from downtown on the way to pouring in a career-high and game-best 23 points. She pulled down ten boards for the double double to go along with three assists and two steals. Fryman also finished with a double double of ten points and ten rebounds.

HU got plenty of production from its bench. Erica Zook tossed in a season-high nine points and grabbed three rebounds. Sarah Doi chipped in seven points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals while Maddy Robrock collected six points and had the tall of order of battling Marian’s 6-4 center Imani Guy in the post.

For the Knights, Macy Willoughby netted 22 points while Guy and Katie Giller added 20 and 19 respectively.

Huntington (15-5, 4-4) will face its second consecutive top five opponent on Wednesday when they travel to 5th-ranked Taylor for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off with the Trojans.