WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Playing on their home turf for the first time this season, the Huntington women’s basketball team mounted an impressive come-from-behind win over Lawrence Tech, 64-50, Wednesday night at Platt Arena. It’s the third straight year the Foresters have won their home opener.

The about-face for Culler and crew started in the third quarter. The Foresters were stuck on 23 points for nearly ten minutes before they got things turned around. The dry spell spanned from the middle of the second quarter to the middle of the third and the visitors made sure to capitalize on it.

Not only did Lawrence Tech (1-2) take a 24-23 lead into halftime, they went on to balloon their advantage to 12 at 35-23 by the 6:15 mark of the third stanza. Sam Vaughn finally snapped the Blue Devils’ run by scoring twice in the paint over the next two minutes to provide a much-needed boast for her team.

Emily Seboe also sparked the hosts by knocking down a pair of triples late in the quarter to trim the lead to just four, 42-38, by the final break. HU’s scrappy defense finally took its toll on LTU after that as evidenced by allowing the visitors just eight points in the final ten minutes.

At the other end of the floor, the Foresters shared the offensive load to pour in 26 points. Celeste Ryman scored seven of her nine points in the fourth quarter. Seboe dropped in another two long balls with her final triple, with just under three minutes remaining, proving the final dagger.

Vaughn, who finished with five points in the quarter, also had a huge three. The senior floor general pulled up beyond the arc at the 5:35 mark to give her team its first three-possession lead of the night at 53-44. Huntington was clearly in the driver’s seat after that, extending the lead to as many as 17 before settling for the double-digit victory.

When all the dust had settled, HU claimed a 26-point turnaround in the final 15 minutes by flipping a 12-point deficit into a 14-point W. As suggested previously, defense was the key. Huntington forced 28 miscues to the tune of 21 points and held their visitors to 34 percent shooting on the night.

Vaughn topped all scorers with 15 points. She also claimed game-high honors in assists (7) and steals (5) to go along with a team-best eight rebounds. Alexandria Bope also did a little bit of everything for Culler’s crew by finishing with 14 points, five rebounds and two steals.

The bench came up big for Huntington as well. Seboe added 12 points, all from deep, and six boards while Ryman and Erica Zook tossed in nine points apiece.

Gracie Mitchell registered 11 points as Lawrence Tech’s only double-digit scorer.

The Foresters (2-1) hit the road on Saturday to face IU Northwest at 2:00 p.m.