WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Among a sea of pink, the No. 21 Foresters played inspired basketball Saturday afternoon at Platt Arena to breeze by Grace 90-74 in its annual Pink Out game. Huntington has yet to lose a Pink Out game in their 12 years of hosting the event.

While Culler and crew never take a win for granted, the real celebration came at halftime when 16 breast cancer survivors were honored. It hit home with the Foresters as among the survivors recognized included Sarah Fryman’s grandpa, Erin Mohr’s grandma and assistant coach Hailey Krewald’s mother.

The day was also highlighted by the play of Fryman. The 5-9 senior had an epic performance by posting 28 points, 13 rebounds and ten assists for the first triple double in program history. Thirteen rebounds and ten assists proved career-bests for the Huntington native.

Fryman wasn’t the only Forester to offer significant contributions. Mohr poured in a career-best 21 points to go along with five rebounds, four of which were of the offensive variety. Sam Hammel, saddled with foul trouble in the first half, erupted for 13 points in the final 20 minutes to finish with 17 points on the afternoon in addition to swiping a game-best three steals.

HU’s bench was also key to the win. Sara Doi was called into action when Hammel was whistled with her second foul early in the first quarter. Despite being hounded full court by Grace’s pesky guards, the 5-5 sophomore still managed to net a season-high 11 points and dish out four dimes over the course of the afternoon. Cindy In’t Groen also offered significant minutes off the bench by ripping down five offensive rebounds on her way to recording a career-best 12 rebounds.

As a team, the Foresters controlled the glass by outrebounding their visitors 46-27 which included chasing down 17 offensive boards for 29 points. It’s the seventh straight game HU has logged double-digit offensive rebounds.

The Lancers (15-9, 6-6) pride themselves on creating chaos with their all-out full court pressure, but on this given day, the Foresters weren’t fazed by their visitors’ defense. Culler and company coughed up the ball just nine times. They systematically picked apart GC’s zone by tossing in 11 threes at a clip of 39.3 percent with five different Foresters draining at least one trey.

It was a contest where the hosts were clicking on all cylinders. Ninety points tied a season high. While the lead swapped back and forth four times, the Foresters held an advantage for nearly 38 of the 40 minutes and never trailed by more than two points.

While the gap between the two teams was slight in the opening half with Huntington taking a 44-40 lead into intermission, Culler and company found some separation in the third quarter that they were able to ride out for the W. The quarter, however, didn’t start out that way as a pair of freebies by Kyannah Stull at the 7:21 mark put the Lancers on top 47-46.

Thankfully it proved Grace’s one and only lead of the half. The Foresters spent the rest of the stanza building a ten-point cushion of 71-61 heading into the fourth where they maintained their double-digit advantage throughout before notching the 16-point dub. It’s HU’s 11th win by ten or more points.

Stull finished with 27 points to top the Lancers. Vironnica Drake added 24 points while Maddie Ryman dropped in 12.

With this win, the Foresters improve to 17-7 overall, 6-6 in league play. Next up is a trip to Goshen on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. match up with the Maple Leafs.