WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

There’s always one game of the year that means more to the HU women’s basketball team than any other game, and Saturday was that day. It was Huntington’s 13th annual Pink Out game at Platt Arena. The Foresters played inspired ball to cruise past Mount Vernon, 68-49, to wrap up the regular season sweep over the Cougars.

Culler and crew have yet to lose a Pink Out game since its origins in 2009. While COVID limited the day’s typical festivities, HU was still able to honor breast cancer survivor Sheila Osbourne at halftime for whom the tradition began 13 years ago.

The day started off blow-for-blow with no more than five points separating the two squads through the first ten minutes. Sam Vaughn was HU’s offensive catalyst. In addition to tossing in seven points which included scoring on an inbounds play just before the first horn to give her team a 17-14 lead, she also corralled five offensive rebounds and handed out a pair of dimes.

While Vaughn continued to wreak havoc in the second quarter, Dazia Drake stepped up as her partner in crime to put a little more distance between the two teams. By halftime, the Foresters had built an eight-point advantage of 32-24. Drake finished the half with ten points and three rebounds while Vaughn had already notched a double double of ten points and 11 rebounds to go along with collecting five assists and two steals.

MVNU boasts two of the top five scorers in the league in Rylee Pireu and Taylor Gregory and the pair came out of halftime to prove their ranking. Between the two, they accounted for all but three of their team’s third quarter scoring. The Cougars came to life right out of recess to quickly erase the deficit to 32-30 early in the frame before HU finally got their bearings.

A three by Jade Clement and Drake sandwiched a pair of Alaina Rongos buckets for a 10-2 blast that swelled Huntington’s lead to double figures, 42-32, by the midway point of the quarter. The next five minutes came and went with the Foresters holding onto an eight-point advantage heading into the fourth where they took over the game – outscoring their guests 19-8 to blow the game wide open.

While Vaughn and Drake continued their tear in the fourth, Celeste Ryman added her two cents with a pair of threes. Maddy Robrock also got in on the action by recording four of her six points. When all was said and done, Culler’s crew shot 66.7 percent from the floor (8-for-12) in the quarter while limiting Mount Vernon to just four field goals on 30.8 percent shooting.

Drake went off for a career-best 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting to lead all scorers. Vaughn tossed in 14 points, handed out seven assists and swiped two steals but most astonishing about her play was her dominance on the glass. At 5-7, the senior point guard tracked down a career-high 18 rebounds, half of which were offensive. Alexandria Bope added eight points, all in the first half.

Gregory and Pireu led the Cougars with 13 and 12 points respectively.

The Foresters have pieced together six consecutive wins over MVNU. Today’s W bumps up HU into a tie for fourth with Mount Vernon in the league standings. The loss, which snapped a three-game win streak the Cougars brought into the contest, drops them to 9-9 overall, 6-5 in CL play.

HU (9-6, 6-5) will take a break from conference action on Wednesday to play at Spring Arbor at 7:00 p.m.