WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The 6th-seeded HU women’s basketball team suffered a 71-57 loss to 3rd-seeded Spring Arbor in quarterfinal action of the Crossroads League tournament Tuesday evening at the McDonald Athletic Center.

With this loss, Huntington’s season comes to an end while the Cougars, receiving votes in the most recent national poll, advance to the semifinals of the tourney to face 2nd-seeded Indiana Wesleyan on Friday.

The Foresters played like the higher seed through the opening twenty minutes. The guests led throughout the entire half which included building an 11-point lead of 16-5 with two minutes left in the first quarter. Freshman Olivia Raby fueled Huntington’s offense early on by going a perfect 4-for-4 from the field in the first ten minutes.

Classmate Bailey Kelham took charge of the next quarter to keep her team on task. The rookie sharp shooter knocked down two triples on the way to pouring in 11 second quarter points to send her team into the locker room up 34-28.

One of the keys to HU’s success was holding SAU’s leading scorers, Alana Nelson and Alize Tripp, to just three points apiece. The pair combine to average over 35 points per game.

Tripp was a one-person wrecking crew after intermission. The 5-5 guard accounted for 16 of her team’s 30 third quarter points. She scored ten straight points for the Cougars within a two-and-a-half minute window to give the hosts their first lead of the night at 40-39 with six minutes left in the quarter.

At that point, the scales officially tipped in favor of Spring Arbor. They would go on to close out the third with a 58-46 lead. It was as close as HU would get the rest of the contest as Nelson made her presence known in the final ten minutes by scoring all but four of SAU’s fourth quarter points.

Despite being hawked by SAU defenders all night, Bailey Kelham still found a way to pour in a team-best 18 points. At the other end of the floor, she swiped five steals and snagged three boards. Raby, saddled with foul trouble much of the game, finished with 14 points and a team-high six rebounds. Gabi Melby posted 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals.

Tripp topped all scorers with 21 points. Nelson added 19. Alex Long finished with 14 points and nine boards while Abby Fleetwood tallied 11 points.

The Foresters close out the season with an overall record of 15-14.