WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

In the first league road game of the season for the #RV HU women’s basketball team, it was the third quarter that doomed the visitors to the tune of a 78-62 loss to #13 Saint Francis Wednesday night inside Hutzell Athletic Center.

The Foresters played some of their best ball of the year in the first half to take a 35-34 advantage into the break. Bailey Kelham packed a punch in the four minutes she was on the floor. The 5-8 sharpshooter drained three straight triples early in the first quarter to spearhead an 11-8 lead but headed to the sidelines shortly after with a pair of fouls.

Her teammates picked up the slack in her absence with Addie Shank leading the charge. The freshman post finished the quarter with eight points and added four more in the second to send HU into the locker room with a one-point lead after a battle of the wills that saw five ties and five lead changes.

Unfortunately, things went sideways for Huntington at the start of the third quarter. Four consecutive turnovers haunted the guests with USF pouncing on the opportunity to reclaim a permanent lead at 42-35. The Cougars spent the rest of the quarter feasting on the momentum shift to build a comfortable 66-47 lead heading into the fourth. While the gap never dipped to single digits after that, HU continued to fight, trimming the difference to ten several occasions before conceding at the horn.

Kelham finished with a team-leading 13 points to go along with four rebounds. Shank established a new career-best with her 12 points off the bench while Gabi Melby tossed in 11 and dished out six assists. Annaka Nelson posted nine points and a team-best six boards.

Cassidy Crawford topped all scorers with 24 points. Chloe McKnight hit four treys on her way to scoring 14 points. Calie Gregory dropped in 11 points and ripped down a game-best eight boards while Julia Mantyla registered ten points to round out USF’s double digit scoring.

Saint Francis made a living in the lane by muscling their way down low for 52 points. They also converted 15 HU miscues into 20 points. With this win, the Cougars remain perfect on the year at 10-0 which includes a 3-0 CL record.

With this loss, HU drops to 5-4 overall, 1-2 in league action. Huntington returns to Platt Arena on Saturday to host Mount Vernon at 1:00 p.m.