WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU women’s basketball team claimed a 75-62 decision over Cornerstone (1-2) for its first win of the year Saturday afternoon at Mol Arena. These two teams have gone head-to-head the last four seasons with the Foresters coming out on top each time, winning on average by 18 points.

Culler’s overall record against the Golden Eagles is unblemished at 6-0.

On this given day, Huntington never trailed. Once Culler’s crew built a double-digit advantage of 30-19 on Alaina Rongos’ driving layup with three minutes remaining in the second quarter, they never let it dip below ten points with the exception of one possession in the final few minutes of the contest.

While the Foresters enjoyed a cushion most of the afternoon, they could never quite shake the persistent Golden Eagles. The visitors generated a handful of runs that had all the makings of blowing the game wide open but each time, Cornerstone found a way to stop the bleeding.

The first notable surge came when Dazia Drake and Sam Vaughn each nailed a three on back-to-back possessions late in the second quarter to give their team a 37-21 advantage. The hosts didn’t disappear, instead they spent the final two minutes trimming the lead to 41-29 by intermission.

The third quarter started just like the first with Jade Clement canning one from downtown to up HU’s lead to 15. Neither team could get much going after that until Huntington’s bench gave the visitors a much-needed lift. After Erica Zook and Konnor Gambrell maneuvered their way through the paint for a layup, Emily Seboe dropped in a pair of threes that barely touched the bottom of the net.

When all was said and done, the trio ripped off a 12-6 run to give Huntington its largest lead of the night at 56-36 with 2:36 left in the quarter. The lead stood at 19 heading into the final ten minutes, but the Golden Eagles still weren’t waving a white flag. Behind senior Allyson Richards’ ten fourth-quarter points, CU spent the first six minutes of frame slicing the lead to single digits at 67-58 with 3:20 to go.

Dazia Drake rose to the occasion to score the game’s next five points which included an old-fashioned three-point play to build back a double-digit pad of 72-58 by the 2:40 mark. It was clock management after that as Sam Vaughn polished things off by going 3-for-4 at the charity stripe to secure the W.

Zook led a balanced Forester attack with a career-tying 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting. Vaughn tossed in 12 points to go along with posting a team-best seven rebounds, a career-high seven steals and three assists. Drake rounded out HU’s double-digit scoring by dropping in ten while six other Foresters tallied six points apiece.

Richards topped the day with 19 points and nine rebounds. Brooke Modderman added 11 points for Cornerstone.

Huntington shot better from long range (7-for-16 for 43.8 percent) than their overall shooting percentage of 42.1 percent (26-for-61). The visitors outrebounded CU by one, 34-33, which included tracking down 13 offensive boards, but most noteworthy was points off the bench which favored HU 35-13.

The Foresters (1-1) are back in action Wednesday for its home opener against Lawrence Tech at 7:00 p.m.