Highlanders Too Much for Arrows; Win Sixth Straight
(Houghton, N.Y.)—The Houghton College women’s
basketball team jumped out to an early lead, then poured
it on in the second half to put away the Ursuline Arrows
71-47 at the Nielsen Center Saturday night.
The Highlanders put in a strong defensive
effort to hold the Arrows to 7-29 (24 percent) shooting
in the first half, including just 2-12 from three-point
range.
“We executed our game plan better than I’ve
seen a team do it for a long time,” said Houghton Head
Coach Skip Lord, “We really wanted to defend hard and
keep the game low-scoring, and we did that very well.”
Houghton got offensive help off the bench in
the first half as Kara Schrader shot 4-6, including 1-3
from beyond the arc, for nine points and also took down
six rebounds. Leah French added eight points in the
first half on 3-4 shooting (2-3 from beyond the arc) as
Houghton took a 14-point lead (31-17). French wound up
with 13 on the night.
Lord cited the play of point guard Lisa
Skrypnik, who shot 3-5 from the field and had five
assists and two steals with no turnovers in 29 minutes
of play. “She was pulling the trigger on our offense,”
Lord said, “and that was a pretty impressive performance
from a point guard.”
In the second half, the Highlanders looked
inside to Ashley Dupler. Dupler, Houghton’s leading
scorer on the season, was shut out in the first half,
but she made up for it quickly in the second, putting up
10 points in the first five minutes (on her way to 14
for the night) and pacing Houghton to a 23-point lead
(45-22).
Houghton’s defense was tough in the second
half as well, limiting Ursuline to 10-29 from the field
(2-8 from three-point range) and a final shooting
percentage of just 29.3 for the game. Ursuline had been
averaging over 76 points per game on the season, and
over 79 points per game in the American Mideast
Conference (AMC) North Division.
Jessica Wood led Ursuline with a game-high 19
points. Diona Graham was the only other Arrow in double
figures, with 10.
The win is the sixth straight for Houghton—all
of them over AMC North opponents—and raises their record
to 13-9 overall and 6-4 in the AMC North. The
Highlanders are midway through a run of six straight
home conference games; their next game will be Friday,
February 15, against Point Park University at 6 p.m.
Photo: Point guard Lisa
Skrypnik in action against Ursuline.
