Hawks Fall to Berry In Opener

MONTGOMERY,Ala.- Huntingdon Women's basketball (0-1 overall, 0-0 CCS) fell to the Vikings of Berry College (1-0 overall, 0-0 SAA) 66-55 in their season opener.

The Hawks started the game off strong with two layups from Briana McGruder. A jump shot from Kennedy Jackson would give Huntingdon a 15-8 lead with 3:12 left in the quarter.  The Hawks held a 22-14 lead at the end of the period. The Hawks continued to rally, building their lead up to 20-8 with another jump shot from Jackson. The Hawks would end the period up 22-14, scoring an efficient 56% of their shots while limiting the Vikings to just 23%.

The second quarter would be much more of a back-and-forth affair. Berry scored 4 early points, but neither team could find the basket  for the next 6 possessions, until junior guard Lauren Lyn drilled a midrange jumpshot to put the Hawks up 25-18 with 7:31 remaining in the quarter. An offensive rebound and kick out from Faith Johnson to Charity Shaw grew the Hawks lead to 8, 29-21 with 6:00 remaining in the quarter. Another scoring drought would ensue for both teams, with the next basket coming at the 3:41 mark following a Berry jumpshot. The Vikings went on a 6-2 scoring run to end the quarter, but Huntingdon remained in the lead 31-27 going into halftime.

Following the halftime intermission, the battle between the two teams continued to wear on. A three-point shot from Deshauna Foote answered an early layup attempt from Berry , maintaining the Hawks lead at 34-29 early in the 3rd. After more back-and-forth scoring possessions, the Vikings would tie the game at 41 with 2:44 remaining in the quarter following a Huntingdon turnover. A layup from Bri McGruder would end Berry's scoring run with 44 seconds remaining in the quarter, and a three-pointer from Erica Rodriguez put the Hawks back in front 46-45 going into the fourth.

Despite holding a slight advantage entering the quarter, Berry would go on to dominate the final period of the game, outsourcing Huntingdon 21-9 to cement their victory. The Vikings did not turn the ball over once in the fourth quarter, gaining an advantage where Huntingdon committed 6 of their own.

For the game, Berry outshot the Hawks from the free-throw line, making 23 of their 35 attempts, while Huntingdon made only 7 of their 19 tries.

Hawk Top Performers 

#4 Kinstin Davis- 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists

#35 Briana McGruder- 10 points, 7 rebounds 

#34 Deshauna Foote- 9 points, 4 rebounds

The Hawks look forward to Friday, November 10th, where they host the Millsaps Majors at 1 PM CT in Roland Arena.