WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

A slow start to the second half spelled trouble for the Huntington women’s basketball team Saturday afternoon in a 76-63 loss to #RV Indiana Wesleyan (6-2, 3-1).

Down by five at halftime, the Foresters were outscored by ten in the opening four minutes of the third quarter to find themselves in a 43-28 hole from which they could not recover. The 12-2 run saw the Wildcats knock down two of their 11 triples.

While Culler’s crew would slice it to eight on a Maddy Robrock baseline jumper at the 2:31 mark of the quarter, it was as close as the hosts would get before IWU built their cushion back to 13, 58-43, heading into the final stanza.

It was a spread that stood the test of time as both teams posted 18 points in the fourth to make for the final 13-point disparity.

The opening 20 minutes featured three ties and nine lead changes with both squads relying on a balanced attack. Eight players from each team got into the scoring column. Sam Vaughn topped the Foresters with eight first-half points on her way to finishing with a team-leading 14 points. She also chased down six rebounds, four of which were of the offensive variety.

Alaina Rongos also corralled six boards to share team rebounding honors with Vaughn in addition to tossing in nine points. Robrock finished with 13 points and five rebounds. Dazia Drake pitched in nine points and handed out three assists while Erica Zook scored eight points from the free throw line.

For the Wildcats, Anne Secrest enjoyed game-high scoring and rebounding honors with 18 points and nine boards. Dayton Groninger and Gabby Suarez added 17 and ten points respectively.

HU forced 17 Wildcat turnovers while committing 14 miscues of their own. The Foresters cashed in 14 offensive rebounds for 13 points.

Both teams take great pride in their defense but on this given day, IWU held the upper hand by limiting HU to just 18 field goals on 32.1 shooting. The Foresters did take advantage of the Wildcats’ defensive aggressiveness to get to the line more than twice as often as their visitors, connecting on 23 of their 30 attempts for 76.7 percent. Wesleyan finished 7-for-12 from the charity stripe.

The Foresters (3-2, 1-1) have a week’s break before hosting Rio Grande on Saturday at 1:00 p.m.