WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU women’s basketball team managed just six points in the fourth quarter Wednesday night against Taylor (8-10, 3-5) at Odle Arena to turn what was a close ball game into a 73-53 win for the Trojans.

Huntington’s last win against TU was a 76-66 decision in January of 2021 as the Trojans have enjoyed a four-game win streak since then.

While HU only led for a few possessions early in contest, they never let their hosts venture too far in front without rallying back through the first three quarters.

Down by four heading into the second, the Foresters trailed by as many as ten at 30-20 within the first four minutes of the quarter. But it was Annaka Nelson and Laura Valiente-Marin to the rescue. The pair combined to score 11 of the game’s next 12 points to force the second of three ties with just over two minutes left in the frame.

Valiente-Marin hit a pair of freebies  with less than :30 seconds remaining in the half for the game’s last stalemate at 33-33 before Ava Henson, the thorn in HU’s side, slithered her way through the lane for a layup just before the buzzer for a 35-33 Taylor lead heading into intermission.

The third started the way the first two quarters did with the Trojans getting a jump on scoring. The hosts pushed their lead to as many as 11 within the first four minutes of play. The pattern continued with Huntington fighting back to cut it to six by the end of the quarter.

Unfortunately, the fourth looked very different as the Trojans went off for 14 straight points to start the quarter to build a 20-point advantage of 67-47 to which HU had no counter this time around.

With four minutes remaining, Kyndell Jochim drained her fourth triple of the afternoon for HU’s first points of the quarter. Ninety seconds later Bailey Kelham dropped in another three but that was all the offense HU mustered in the final ten minutes to make for the lopsided finish.

Kelham finished with three from deep on her way to scoring a team-leading 16 points. Jochim finished with a career-best 14 points off the bench to go along with a team-high five rebounds. Nelson added eight points while Valiente-Marin tossed in seven, swiped three steals and grabbed four boards.

Henson had a career night by topping all scorers with 24 points. Taylor Westgate had a monster day by pouring in 18 points and ripping down a TU program-best 25 rebounds, ten of which were of the offensive variety. Jillian Osswald finished with 12 points and seven assists to round out Taylor’s offense.

With this loss, Huntington drops to 9-9 which includes a 3-5 CL record. HU returns to the friendly confines of Platt Arena on Saturday to host Goshen at 1:00 p.m.