WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester women’s basketball team outlasted Goshen 67-62 Thursday night in Platt Arena. It was HU’s first time back on the hardwood in over a month with no better initiation than jumping right into Crossroads League action.

The win is Huntington’s first in league play as they improve to 3-1 overall, 1-0 in CL action. The dub is also the seventh straight over the Maple Leafs (1-6, 1-3).

Contributions were widespread with sophomore Alaina Rongos playing some of her best basketball in Forester green by pouring in a game-best and career-high 22 points.  Sam Vaughn’s name was etched in every statistical category. The 5-7 senior point posted 12 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals.

Maddy Robrock was HU’s spark off the bench with eight first half points on her way to tossing in a career-tying ten points by game’s end. Dazia Drake added seven points but more impressively, corralled a career-best seven rebounds, handed out five dimes and rejected a career-tying three blocks.

The first quarter was up for grabs as the two squads swapped the lead four times and drew even twice on the way to a slim HU advantage of 19-18 by the first break. Based on the opening ten minutes, it had all the makings of a battle to the bitter end but the hosts changed the script in the next stanza. Up by two at the 7:30 mark of the second quarter, the Foresters rattled off 12 straight points to balloon their advantage to 39-25. It was a lead they would never relinquish.

Rongos ignited the run with back-to-back buckets. Drake put the finishing touches on the game-changing spurt by scoring down low and then dropping in a three for a 14-point cushion with two minutes left in the frame before Huntington took a 13-point lead into intermission.

Goshen came out of the locker room with renewed energy to bend but not break their hosts. The Maple Leafs spent the first eight minutes of the third chipping away at their deficit to eventually pull within five at 49-44 but a freebie by Vaughn and a transition layup by Logan Rowles gave HU a little breathing room at 52-44 heading into the final quarter.

The Foresters were composed in the fourth with Rongos’ shot-clock beating triple at the six-minute mark proving a critical bucket that put her team on top 58-45. HU preserved a double-digit lead over the next four minutes and despite the Maple Leafs scoring on its final three possessions including a long ball at the buzzer for a final five-point spread, the lead was never in jeopardy.

Graysen Cockerham and Keyaira Murff paced Goshen with 16 and 12 points respectively. The two were each a board shy of a double double while TaNiece snagged top rebounding honors with 11 to go along with seven points.

Huntington is back in Platt Arena on Saturday to host Indiana Wesleyan at 1:00 p.m.