WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The 6th-seeded HU women’s basketball team had their hopes dashed Friday night at Odle Arena by suffering a heart-breaking 66-64 loss to #7 Taylor.

After picking off 3rd-ranked Saint Francis earlier in the week in the quarterfinals of the Crossroads League tournament, the upset-minded Foresters came up short against the 2nd-seeded Trojans to not only miss out on a shot at a conference tournament championship but also the opportunity to secure the league’s second automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships.

There’s an outside chance Culler and crew could receive an at large bid to the big dance so now they lie in wait until the middle of next week.

Tonight’s battle didn’t disappoint as the game featured 15 lead changes and four ties. Eight points marked the Foresters’ largest lead of the evening, which came in the opening quarter, while the Trojans built a 14-point cushion early in the third frame.

The aforementioned gap, a 47-33 difference, was quickly whittled to five when HU pieced together an 11-2 run over a four-minute spell to make for a 49-44 spread with four minutes left in the third. Alexandria Bope kicked it off with an old-fashioned three-point play after which Jade Clement buried one from the top of the key. On the next possession, Sarah Fryman canned a pair of freebies and following a series of empty possession by both teams, Dazia Drake dropped in her first of two triples to cap off HU’s spurt.

Drake’s second long ball came at the midway point of the fourth quarter to pull her team within three at 60-57. It was the start of seven straight points by HU that included a pair of Fryman buckets, the last of which gave the visitors a 61-60 lead with 2:32 remaining.

The Trojans responded with the next five points before Sam Hammel’s trey caught nothing but the bottom of the net to turn it into a one-point contest at 65-64 in favor of TU. With just :14 ticks remaining, the Foresters sent Abby Buchs to the line where she went 1-for-2 to leave the door open for a dramatic finish. Unfortunately, Huntington’s last look was partially blocked to deny the visitors any sort of heroic ending.

Hammel had a monster first half by scoring 16 points on her way to posting a game-best 21 points. She also collected five rebounds, four steals and three assists. Fryman took over for Hammel in the final twenty minutes. After tossing in six points in the first half, the 5-9 forward added 13 second half points to finish with 19. She also came up with a career-best 15 rebounds for the double double.

Abby Buchs topped Taylor with 13 points. Haley Stratman and Becca Buchs dropped in 12 apiece while Sydney Huffman added 11.

With this loss, the #RV Foresters drop to 21-11 on the year.