WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Forester women’s basketball team got off to a slow start Saturday afternoon against one of the nation’s best in #6 Marian and the hosts put on the hurt by jumping out to an early lead on the way to a 71-54 victory to remain perfect at 9-0 on their home turf this season.

The Knights sped out to a 14-4 lead on the way to doubling up HU 18-9 by the first break. Huntington never allowed their hosts to extend the lead beyond ten in the second quarter and eventually cut it to five, 28-23, after a transition three by Emily Seboe and second chance bucket by Laura Valiente-Marin with three minute to go in the half.

Unfortunately, HU’s offense sputtered after that as they managed just two points to MU’s nine for a halftime score of 37-25. Maggard and crew cut it to single digits twice early in the third before Marian pieced together an 8-1 spurt for the game’s largest disparity up to that point of 47-32 midway through the quarter.

Over the final 15 minutes, Huntington played within two points of Marian but it was too little too late to make for the final 17-point Marian tilt.

Seboe topped the Foresters with 14 points, 12 from deep, and nine rebounds. Dazia Drake chipped in ten points. Konnor Gambrell tossed in nine points and tracked down seven boards while Celeste Ryman handed out a team-best five assists.

Ella Collier and Aliyah McKinley paced the Knights with 14 points each. Tamia Perryman added 13 off the bench. MU’s bigs in Abbey McNally and Kinnidy Garrard each posted ten points and combined for 17 of their team’s 38 rebounds.

With this loss, Huntington drops to 9-16 overall which includes a 4-11 CL record. The Knights move to 23-2 overall, 14-1 in the league for the top spot in the conference along with IWU.

HU hits the road again on Wednesday for a 7:00 p.m. matchup with Saint Francis.