Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Huntington women’s basketball team made a strong return to the NAIA Division II national championship tournament Thursday.
The Foresters defeated Jamestown College 64-54 in the first round.
Lauren Davenport scored 19 points for Huntington (25-6), and Jenna Donaldson added 16 and Sarah Miller scored 11.
“It still seems so surreal; … we haven’t been here in such a long time,” said Foresters coach Lori Culler, whose team last played in the tourney in 1994.
“With this group of kids, we felt we had something special. They have such a competitive nature, and they’re tough, hard-nosed players.”
Davenport is perhaps the best example of Culler’s statement.
The 5-foot-6 Foresters point guard was one of the shortest players on the floor, but that didn’t stop her from collecting six rebounds, five steals and two blocked shots.
“Lauren passed 1,000 points in her career tonight and she didn’t even score 200 points in high school, so for her to get 1,000 at this level is special,” Culler said. “She is so determined, so confident. She’s a quiet leader. You follow her, she’ll get you where you need to go.”
Heidi Fiechter scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Jamestown (20-10).
Ali Edwards added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Jimmies, who never led and spent the majority of the game trailing from eight to 12 points. Jamestown had a 48-32 rebounding advantage but committed 18 turnovers and shot 31.7 percent.
“We were never out of it, but we just couldn’t get over the hump,” said Jimmies coach Mark Wiest, whose team lost two guards during the regular season to ACL injuries, Giuli Varriano and Katie O’Neill.
Jamestown’s Cori Doubek missed the season with a back injury.
Jamestown pulled within 57-51 when Edwards hit a pair of free throws with 3:53 remainingDavenport made a free throw, then threw an assist to Courtney Beerbower as Huntington increased its lead.
“We’re outsized at every position,” Culler said. “So, the situation today wasn’t unusual.
“We had to learn to play defense to stop size.”
Huntington will face Davenport (30-2) at 4:30 p.m. today as second-round action resumes.
Davenport rolled to an 88-62 victory over Indiana University Southeast.
