WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The HU women’s basketball team closed out the year with a 68-65 road win over Grace Saturday afternoon at the Manahan Orthopaedic Capital Center. It was the Foresters’ second straight win having topped Goshen by 11 on Wednesday.

Huntington’s grit was undeniable. After falling behind by ten, 40-30, at halftime, Culler’s crew slowly grinded their way back in it with a stingy defense that gave up a mere three points in the third quarter. At the other end of the floor, it was scoring by committee as seven different Foresters put points on the board to slip in front of the Lancers, 45-43, by quarter’s end.

The guests carried their defensive intensity into the fourth by limiting GC to just three points through the first five minutes. Konnor Gambrell carried the offensive load by unleashing for eight points to pad her team’s lead to 12 at 58-46 with 5:12 remaining.

Over the next four minutes, Grace found new life in Maddie Ryman and Kaylee Patton who combined for 12 of the game’s next 18 points which shrunk the deficit to just two points at 62-60. But the late-game threat didn’t faze Culler and crew. Instead they calmly knocked down free throws to preserve the win.

Senior Erica Zook was the first to hit a big pair of free tosses with 1:09 to go. It cushioned the lead from two to four at 64-60 as HU went 4-for-6 from the line the rest of the way to stave off the comeback-hungry Lancers.

Zook finished with eight points, three assists and two steals in her final game as a Forester. Gambrell tossed in 15 points, ten in the fourth, and chased down eight rebounds to lead Huntington in both categories.

Celeste Ryman added 12 points which included going 4-for-4 from the line in the fourth. Huntington finished the game 19-for-23 from the charity stripe for 82.6 percent.

Ryman led all scorers with 17 points. Patton chipped in 15 while Kiersten Poor added 14.

With today’s win, Huntington finishes the year 5-21 overall, 3-12 in league play.