SPRING ARBOR, MI – With the 24th ranked Huntington Foresters in town, Spring Arbor University's women's basketball team knew it would have to play a nearly flawless to come away from this game with a win. And for 30 minutes, the outcome of this game could have gone either way, before Huntington outlasted the Cougars 63-52.
Halfway through the first half, Huntington lead by nine points 15-6, before the Spring Arbor got warmed up and tied the game up at 23-23 with 2:43 left in the half. Over the next few minutes, the Foresters outscored SAU 6-2 to take a 29-25 lead at the break.
Coming out of the half, the Cougars were inspired and quickly tied the game up at 29-29 within just a few minutes. Over the first eight minutes of the second half, Spring Arbor went eye ball to eye ball with Huntington and the two teams tied the game up seven times during that span, the last was at 44-44 with 11:59 left in the game.
Other than a free throw, the Cougars didn't score a point over the next 10 minutes of play and with 1:40 left in the game, Spring Arbor found themselves down 45-60 and without much hope of upsetting the Foresters.
Spring Arbor fought hard and played the foul game well, but the outcome was sealed and Huntington would wind up on top 63-52 as time ran out on the Cougars.
Jessica Garrison and Kylie Townsley each scored 16 points to lead Spring Arbor and Karly Bender dished out a game high eight assists. Carlie Newman put up nine points and hauled in seven rebounds.
Spring Arbor drops to 10-12 and 4-7 and into a tie with Bethel College for sixth place in the Crossroads League standings. The Cougars will travel to Bethel on Saturday for a 1:00 tip with the Pilots in Mishawaka, IN.
