Hawks rally late, but come up short at LaGrange

LAGRANGE, Ga.  – The Huntingdon women's basketball team rallied from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter but could not overtake LaGrange College in a 59-54 loss on Wednesday.

Trailing 50-33 with 6:11 to play in the game, the Hawks outscored LaGrange 21-9 in the final six minutes. Despite trailing 55-43 with 40 seconds remaining, Huntingdon put together an 11-2 run to pull within three points in the final seconds.

A basket and a free throw by Keturah Billen made it a nine-point game with 37 seconds left and a 3-pointer by Wyatt Bak made it a six-point game with 25 seconds on the clock.

LaGrange answered with a pair of free throws to make it 57-49 before Ry Whetstone hit one free throw with 14 seconds remaining and made a layup with nine seconds on the clock to cut the Panthers' lead to five points.

A steal by Bak set up a basket by Alina Shoemake to make it 57-54 with five seconds to play. But LaGrange sealed the game with a pair of free throws with four seconds left.    

Shoemake led all scorers with 13 points and Billen turned in a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds. Shaonica Thomas added nine points and Whetstone finished with seven rebounds.

Records: Huntingdon (8-10, 7-2 USA South); LaGrange (10-6, 4-4 USA South)

Coming Up: Huntingdon plays at Brevard on Saturday at 1 p.m. (Central)