HUNTINGTON, Ind. – The No. 4-ranked Indiana Tech women's basketball team fell to regional rival Huntington University in overtime, 79-77, on Tuesday evening in their season opener inside Platt Arena.
Alexis Hill had a team-best 22 points on 9-12 shooting and career-high 18 rebounds while adding three blocks and two assists.
DeAnn Kauffman added 20 points, three rebounds and three assists while
Emma Wolfe chipped in 12 points and four rebounds in her first game wearing a Tech uniform.
Rachel Bell had 10 points while
Erika Foy had six points and three rebounds in her first career game.
A high-scoring first quarter featured back-and-forth action between the two schools just 28 miles apart from one another, but the Foresters held the upper hand for most of the quarter as they took a 22-18 lead into the first break. Huntington pushed their lead to 10 points just two minutes into the second quarter thanks to a 6-0 run, but a 9-2 run from the Warriors made it a 30-27 game at the 5:14 mark. Tech wouldn't get any closer for the rest of the half though and trailed 36-31 after 20 minutes of play.
Kauffman sparked a 10-4 run to open the second half, hitting a pair of three pointers to give the Warriors a 41-40 lead with 5:55 left in the third quarter, their first lead since the opening basket of the contest. The hosts came right back however with a 10-3 run to go back up 50-44 with 2:04 left in the period and held a 51-48 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Kauffman and Hill powered the Orange and Black through the final 10 minutes of regulation, with the latter hitting a basket with 2:45 on the clock to put Tech ahead 61-59. HU would go back ahead 66-64 with a 5-0 run in the final minute of the game, but Wolfe sunk a pair of three throws with 22 seconds left to knot the game up at 66-66 and send the two squads into overtime.
The Foresters got off to a fast start in the overtime period with a 9-2 run to take a 75-68 lead with 2:55 to play. The Warriors battled back and cut the deficit down to a single point at 78-71 with 12 seconds on the clock following a basket from
Kyra Whitaker, but a triple from Kauffman didn't go down with two seconds left in the game and the Foresters came away with the upset.
Tech (0-1) returns to action next Wednesday, November 6 as they travel to NCAA Division III foe Earlham College. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from the Lingle Court on the campus of IU East.
