Second Quarter Surge Not Enough against Haskell

LAWRENCE, Kan. – After falling behind early on, Avila women's basketball heated up down the stretch of the second quarter to surge right back into the game, but Haskell (5-9) had a surge of its own in store in the third quarter to ultimately jet past the Eagles (1-9) 78-51 on Saturday afternoon in Lawrence.

It was the first matchup between two schools separated by less than an hour in close to five years (January 2018 was the last meeting), and the Fighting Indians put together a very impressive performance, for three quarters at least, to earn their third straight win in the all-time series. Haskell shot just under 50% from the field while holding Avila below 30%, and took full advantage of too many Avila turnovers (29-6 edge in points off turnovers) to ultimately cruise to victory.

The two teams traded buckets in the opening minute: Hannah Smith buried a three-pointer, an early prelude to what would become a career day for the Eagle sophomore, to put the visitors up 3-2 after their first possession, but once the Fighting Indians scored seconds later to go back up 4-3 they never trailed again. Avila went silent after that early Smith make – Kayla Navy finally scored Avila's second basket of the game in the final minute of the period, bringing the score to 22-7 after ten minutes.

Before too long, HINU stretched that lead out to 30-10 with 6:24 left in the half, and it looked like the home team might be about to run away with the match. But the Eagles had other ideas. After a dormant first quarter, the Avila offense erupted in the final six minutes of the second. It all started when Emily Baldwin set up Smith for a second-chance three-pointer, and that opened the floodgates for Smith and for her team. Smith buried three treys in the span of just over 60 seconds – all set up by London Foster – before Emily Baldwin connected on her second triple of the frame to help the Eagles climb all the way back from down 20 to within 34-30 with a minute to play.

Haskell was able to stop the bleeding by scoring the final five points of the half and, unfortunately for the Eagles, that was just a precursor for what was to come in the second half. The shooting stroke the Eagles found in the second quarter eluded them in the second half: Avila made only seven field goals as a team after halftime, while HINU as a team shot nearly 55% from the field.

A slow start to the second half doomed the Eagles. Avila got within single digits once more at 45-36, but it was all Haskell for the final 15 minutes: Avila scored just 15 points in that timeframe as Haskell prevailed 78-51.

Marilyn Goodman has become a player to watch for HINU in recent years and proved it Saturday, leading the team with 23 points on 11 made field goals along with five steals. Maphiya Irving scored 14 points along with nine boards and six steals.

For the Eagles, what a difference two days made for Hannah Smith. Two days after she failed to make a single field goal against Kansas Wesleyan, she turned around and shot 7-of-12 from beyond the arc to tie her career high with 25 points against Haskell while also tallying a career-high 10 rebounds for her first career double-double. Baldwin added 11 points, and Kaytee Frasher also added 10 rebounds.

Up next, Avila women's basketball returns to KCAC play on Wednesday, December 7 as the Eagles welcome Oklahoma Wesleyan back to Mabee Fieldhouse, the site of those two teams' KCAC Tournament Semifinal matchup just a few months ago. The women begin the Wednesday doubleheader at 6 PM, with the men to follow at 8. Admission is priced at $8 per person for visiting fans; as always, you can watch all the action live on the Avila Sports Network.