SPRING ARBOR, Mich. – The Spring Arbor University women's basketball team held an 11 point lead over No. 16 Huntington University at halftime, but a second half rally spoiled the upset bid as the Foresters held on to defeat the Cougars 56-44 on Wednesday night inside the SAU Fieldhouse.
Senior Lindsey Burnside and sophomore Aimee Konkel finished with 11 points apiece to pace SAU. Burnside also hauled in a team-high seven rebounds.
Burnside scored the first four points of the game to give the Cougars a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the half. Leading 16-14 with eight minutes remaining in the period, Konkel would knock down a three-pointer to start a 13-2 run over the next four minutes to give SAU its largest lead of the game, 29-16. Huntington would convert on a pair of free throws, though, to cut the lead to 11, 29-18, at the break.
The Cougars were firing on all cylinders through the first 20 minutes, hitting 43 percent (13-for-30) of their shots from the field while limiting the Foresters to just 19 percent (6-for-32).
Huntington (7-2, 1-1 Crossroads League) regrouped at halftime, however, and came charging out of the gates with a 19-4 run to take its first lead of the night, 37-33, with 12:30 left on the clock. The teams would go back and forth, trading baskets over the next few minutes and a bucket by freshman Faith Johnson trimmed the deficit to three, 43-40, at the 7:24 mark. The Foresters would use another lengthy run, though, to extend the margin to double digits and put the game out of reach for the Cougars.
Spring Arbor finished the night shooting 34 percent (19-for-56) from the field while the visitors connected on 32 percent (18-for-56) of their shots, including shooting at a 50 percent clip in the second half. The difference came at the free throw line where the Foresters went 16-for-18 while SAU made just four trips to the charity stripe. Huntington also held the edge in rebounding, pulling down 46 boards compared to the Cougars' 33.
Junior Jessica Mabry scored eight points and dished out five assists off the bench while Johnson and sophomore Kylie Townsley added six points apiece.
Up next, Spring Arbor (3-6, 0-2 Crossroads League) will travel to Bethel College (4-5, 0-2 Crossroads League) on Saturday, Dec. 6 with the game scheduled to tip at 1 p.m.
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