WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The #RV Forester women’s basketball team wrapped up the regular season with a 72-61 road loss to #3 Marian (27-3, 16-2) Saturday afternoon at the MU PE Center. The loss sends Huntington (20-10, 9-9) into the league tourney tied for fifth with Grace in the standings with the Lancers getting the upper hand in the tiebreaker. As the 6th seed, HU will face 3rd seeded Saint Francis Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.

Just like the last time these two teams squared off, the Knights got off to a quick start forcing Culler and crew to chase down their hosts. On this given day, Marian raced out to a 17-4 advantage after the first quarter but as has been the case all season, Huntington didn’t crumble. Instead they spent the first five minutes not just playing catch up but actually taking a 19-18 lead before heading into intermission down 30-25.

Sam Hammel and Sarah Fryman led the comeback charge by tossing in eight and seven points respectively to help their team outscore MU 21-13 in the second quarter. Hammel kicked off the third with her second triple of the afternoon to trim it to just two points but it was all Marian after that.

The Knights ripped off a 14-5 run to reclaim a double-digit tilt of 44-33. Once again, HU fired back to close out the third down by just six, 52-46, compliments of Sara Doi’s three that hit every side of the rim before bouncing in at the buzzer.

Back-to-back buckets down low by Alexandria Bope kept the Foresters within two possessions of the Knights through the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. But ultimately, Marian had too many weapons as five different Knights put points on the board to grow a comfortable lead that they rode out the rest of the way.

Fryman topped all scorers with 19 points. Hammel just missed out on another triple double by piling up 18 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, six of which were offensive. She also snagged four steals.

Macie Lively dropped in four triples on the way to netting 18 points for Marian. Imani Guy came off the bench to toss in 16 points while Katie Giller and Macy Willoughby added 12 and ten points respectively.

Both teams logged 22 field goals with 27 points coming from deep. HU grabbed four more offensive boards than their hosts and committed three less turnovers, but the glaring difference came at the free throw line. Marian found their way there 24 times to HU’s 11.

The Foresters will make the short trip to Fort Wayne on Tuesday for the first round of tourney play against USF.