WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU women’s basketball team had plenty of reasons to celebrate Wednesday night in Platt Arena. The festivities started prior to tip-off with Maggard and crew honoring lone senior Emily Seboe after which the Foresters disposed of the visiting Taylor Trojans 62-49.

While Huntington struggled to get their shots to fall, their defense more than made up for their offensive shortcomings. HU’s scrappy defense held the Trojans nearly 20 points below their season average with turnovers the obvious culprit to TU’s demise.

The opening 20 minutes set the tone with the Foresters forcing 18 turnovers which matched the number of shots Taylor got off in the first half. While HU wasn’t able to convert TU’s blunders into points on the board at a rate Maggard would have like, they still took a 26-19 lead into intermission.

Taylor took much better care of the ball in the second half to keep within striking distance of Huntington, but the hosts never relented their lead which they had taken over for good three minutes into the second quarter.

As is fitting on Senior Day, Seboe put the team on her back to start the fourth. The stately forward opened the quarter with a three and then scored on back-to-back putbacks to give HU the game’s first double digit disparity of 48-38 with 7:29 to go.

While the Trojans didn’t go down without a fight, HU kept them at arm’s length to nab the 13-point win. The victory avenges a loss to Taylor earlier this season.

Taylor ended up with 24 TOs to Huntington’s nine. It’s the fifth time this season the Foresters have logged single digit turnovers.

Gabi Melby dropped in 16 points and posted four assists and four steals. Olivia Raby tossed in 12 points and chased down seven boards while Bailey Kelham added ten points and three steals. Seboe corralled a team-best eight rebounds in addition to scoring seven points and snagging two steals.

Ava Henson finished with a game-high 18 points for the Trojans. Taylor Westgate tallied a double double of 12 points and 14 rebounds while Claycee West chipped in 11 points.

With one regular season game remaining, HU (14-13, 8-9) is tied with Grace for fifth place in the CL standings. Huntington is back in action on Saturday to face Goshen at 1:00 p.m.