WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The 8th-ranked Knights of Marian University used a strong second quarter to gain an edge they would ride out for a 72-61 win over the HU women’s basketball team Wednesday night. The loss drops Culler’s crew to 12-8 overall, 5-4 in league play while Marian improves to 17-4 on the year, 8-1 in CL action.

Seven Knights put points on the board in the second quarter to outscore their visitors by nine. They nailed 55.6 percent of their field goal attempts and played error-free basketball in the ten-minute segment while forcing Huntington into four miscues and holding them to 6-for-14 shooting.

MU enjoyed a one-point advantage, 20-19, at the first quarter break to make for a 42-32 halftime spread that HU couldn’t overcome. However, the final 20 minutes didn’t come without opportunities to close the gap but sometimes shots just don’t fall.

The third quarter saw Huntington outscore their hosts 17-14 but “what could have been” wasn’t as they missed all seven of their free throw attempts. Down 56-49 heading into the fourth, HU righted their wrong at the charity stripe by going 6-for-6 but unfortunately missed shots from point-blank range were all too common for the underdogs. The Foresters managed just two field goals in the final quarter, both of which were long balls by Maddie Richer.

When all was said and done, HU played within two points of one of the nation’s best for three of the four quarters.

Richer finished a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown on the way to pouring in a team-best 18 points to go along with three rebounds, all offensive, two assists and two steals. She did most of her damage in the second half where she scored all but three of her points.

Sam Hammel, sidelined the first time these two teams met this season, came out firing on all cylinders to score 11 of her 17 points in the first quarter. Brooke Saylor posted a double double of 12 points and 13 rebounds with ten of her points coming in the third. She also handed out a game-best five assists. Casey Morton laid claim to the second quarter where she scored seven of her nine points.

Macy Willoughby topped all scorers with 19 points for the Knights. Dejah Cyrus, recognized before the game for scoring her 1,000th career point, finished with 18 points, ten boards and five assists. Cyrus and Saylor went toe-to-toe as has been the case for nearly a decade as the two are high school rivals from the same county.

Rachel Titzer rounded out Marian’s double digit scoring with 12 points.

The Foresters, victims to MU both times this year, will look to rebound on Saturday when they travel to Bethel for a noon tip-off with the Pilots.