WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

It was a barnburner Wednesday night in Platt Arena with the visiting Taylor Trojans eventually topping the HU women’s basketball team 77-73. The win wraps up the regular season sweep for TU who recorded a 76-56 victory over Huntington in November.

The Trojans move to 15-9 on the year which includes an 8-6 CL record good for fourth in the league standings. HU’s record stands at 9-15 overall, 4-10 in the conference.

Taylor won the game at the free throw line. In the final three minutes, the guests went 16-for-17 at the charity stripe to eek out the win. With four minutes to go and the game tied at 58-58, Ariel Dale knocked down a long ball, TU’s last field goal of the night, to give her team a 61-58 edge.

Then began the free throw clinic. Despite Taylor’s mastery at the line which grew their lead to 70-62 with just over a minute to go, Huntington stayed locked in to give themselves a chance at the win.

Junior Emily Seboe drained a long three from the top of the key with 1:08 remaining to keep the Foresters hopeful. Konnor Gambrell came up with a steal which she eventually converted for two points to pull HU within three at 70-67 with :34 ticks to go.

Strategic timeouts to draw up scripted plays proved fruitful as both teams scored on their next two possessions to keep it a three-point ballgame at 74-71 with :20 seconds remaining. Coming out of a timeout, it was Taylor’s ball but not for long as Gambrell came up with a huge steal on the inbounds pass. Unfortunately, HU’s shot in transition was off the mark. Their golden opportunity came and went which allowed Taylor to ride out the clock for the win.

The flurry of activity in the final two minutes was certainly the greatest entertainment of the evening. HU held a 19-17 advantage after the first quarter of play before extending their lead to 36-29 by intermission. The score still favored the Foresters, 50-48, after three before the brawl that was the fourth quarter finally swung Taylor’s direction.

Gambrell filled the stat sheet with 20 points, five rebounds and five steals. Dazia Drake had her best outing of the season by pouring in 17 points to go along with three rebounds and three steals. Alli Vaughn finished with ten points, a team-best seven rebounds and three steals.

As a team, Huntington shot 49.2 percent from the field (29-for-59) and 69.2 percent from the line (9-for-13) while Taylor’s numbers were 49.1 percent from the field (26-for-53) and 85.7 percent from the line (18-for-21).

Claycee West accounted for four of TU’s seven triples on the way to pouring in a game-best 22 points. Gretchen Moll added 14 points. Jillian Osswald and Ava Henson tossed in 12 and 11 points respectively to round out the Trojans’ double-digit scoring.

The Foresters are on the road Saturday to face #6 Marian.