WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

It was the HU women’s basketball team’s home opener Saturday afternoon and the Saints of Holy Cross stole the show by handing their hosts a 64-61 loss.

The Saints’ defensive pressure right out of the gate wreaked havoc on the Foresters. Unfortunately it made for a first quarter HU would like back as they managed just one field goal and a handful of free throws to dig themselves in a 17-5 hole.

Maggard and crew played even with their guests over the next ten minutes to head into break still down by 12 but a chance to regroup served the Foresters well as they owned the third quarter. Defensively they held the Saints to just eight points while scratching and clawing their way back in at the other end of the floor.

Down 39-31 with three minutes left in the quarter, Celeste Ryman and Konnor Gambrell teamed up for a 10-2 run that pulled HU within one at 41-40 heading into the final stanza. It was anybody’s game at that point. Back-to-back buckets by Gambrell in the paint gave Huntington their first lead of the contest at 45-42 with just over six minutes remaining.

Four minutes later after three lead changes and a tie, Holy Cross took what proved the final lead of the game that they were able to eventually ride out at the free throw line as HU was forced to foul.

After quiet first halves, Gambrell and Ryman each scored 12 of their 14 points in the final 20 minutes to top all scorers. Gambrell also pulled down nine boards, four of which were of the offensive variety. Alli Vaughn added 11 points, six rebounds and two assists. Emily Seboe finished with a game-high ten rebounds in addition to collecting seven points and three steals.

Poor shooting plagued Huntington (19-for-60 for 31.7 percent) as did turnovers. The two squads combined for 50 miscues with HU owning up to 26 of them. Neither team was particularly effective at the charity stripe where the Foresters went 21-for-35 (60.0 percentage) while the Saints connected on 59.3 percent (16-for-27) of their attempts.

Holy Cross was led Grace Adams who posted 13 points while Kayliana Hammel and Jayda Miller chipped in ten points each.

The series between these two squads started back in 2009 with HU carrying an 8-0 streak into today’s contest.

Next up for Huntington (1-1) is a trip to Oakland City on Tuesday.