WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU women’s basketball team built onto their win streak Saturday afternoon at Platt Arena by running away with a 79-60 decision over IU Kokomo (3-6). The win is Huntington’s fifth straight as they improve to 7-4 on the season.

It was a slow start for Maggard and crew. After Bailey Kelham scored on the opening possession, the Cougars rattled off 15 of the next 17 points for a visitor lead of 15-4 with 3:23 left in the quarter. By the first break, HU had narrowed the gap to six at 18-12. Ninety seconds into the second quarter, Emily Seboe had erased the disparity with back-to-back triples for an 18-18 stalemate.

HU climbed back on top for the first time since the opening possession on Gabi Melby’s traditional three-point play shortly after Seboe’s sharp shooting for a 21-18 ball game. The 9-0 start to the quarter secured Huntington’s lead the rest of the way minus two possessions, one a 28-27 IUK advantage and the other a 30-30 deadlock.

Huntington took a slim 32-30 lead into intermission but a chance to sort things out at halftime served the hosts well. Just like the start of the second, HU got off to great start in the third with Seboe again leading the charge. This time the senior forward scored eight points, which included another pair of trifectas, in just over two minutes to up the lead to 40-32.

Kelham swiped a steal at midcourt for an easy bucket after which Olivia Raby put a move on her defender deep in the paint to cap off a 12-2 Forester run for a 44-32 advantage with six minutes left in the third.

By the end of the quarter, the lead was 58-42 with HU having outscored the Cougars 26-12 in the ten-minute segment. It was more of the same in the fourth as they held their guests at bay to make for the final 19-point spread by the final buzzer.

For the game, the Foresters finished 12-for-24 from deep (50.0 percent) which included going 5-for-6 in the all-important third quarter. Seboe and Kelham accounted for all by two of HU’s threes by each knocking down five of their eight attempts from long range.

Kelham finished with a career-best 29 points. It’s the fourth time this season she’s put up at least 20. The 5-8 freshman also collected a career-high eight rebounds, three on the offensive glass, in addition to handing out three assists and snagging a pair of steals.

Seboe also had herself a day, pouring in a season-best 18 points to go along with seven boards and a steal. Raby added 13 points and five rebounds while Melby tossed in ten and dished out a game-best six dimes.

The Cougars were led by Olivia Dowden’s 12 points off the bench. Other double digit scorers for IUK included Anya Friend with 11 and Shamaria Walker with ten.

HU wraps up the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule with a trip to Kentucky for a matchup with Midway on Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.