Lady Hawks lose tough battle with Maryville

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Huntingdon women were tested Saturday afternoon at Roland Arena.

Hosting Great South Athletic Conference rival Maryville College, the Lady Hawks knew they would have to play one of their best games to knock off the Scots and keep their winning streak alive.

Huntingdon came up a little short, losing 66-57 and snapping a five-game winning streak. But head coach Buzz Phillips was impressed with the intensity and the attitude of his team.

"Our girls battled today. We battled hard," Phillips said. "Our girls came into this game with the attitude that they were going to leave everything on the court. That's what we did.

"There used to be an attitude around here that playing a good team close was enough. That's not how these girls feel. These girls want to win and playing a close game isn't enough for them."

Huntingdon (8-5, 3-1 GSAC) overcame a slow start and matched Maryville (7-5, 3-0) point-for-point into the second half. The Scots used a 16-5 run midway through the final half to build a 13-point lead with 5:16 to play.

Huntingdon cut it to five points on a pair of LaTerial Williams free throws with 1:24 to play. But Maryville sealed the game with four Lauren Burnett free throws in the final 42 seconds.

"We hit a little lull in the second half where we couldn't buy a basket and they went on their run," Phillips said. "We kept battling, but sown the stretch, it seemed like things just didn't go our way in the crucial situations."

Morgan Crawford led Huntingdon with 21 points and six steals. LaTerial Williams also had six steals and finished with seven points and three assists. Tanjanik Munford pulled down a team-high seven rebounds and Chelsea Graham hit three 3-pointers to finish with nine points.

Tayler Smith led Maryville with 26 points and nine rebounds. Janell Menard and Kiera Payne each added 12 points.

"We can't dwell on this game," Phillips said. "We've got another big game coming up at Agnes Scott and we have to be focused on that game instead of looking back at this one.

"We've gained a lot of confidence this season and there are several things we can build off of from today. We're into the tough part of the season, with some tough games on the road. But we're going to keep working and continue to play hard."

The Lady Hawks travel to Agnes Scott (4-8, 3-2 GSAC) on Monday for a 5 p.m. game.