PARKERSBURG - When Megan Morrison banged in the second of her five treys with 40 seconds remaining in the first quarter, it appeared as if host Parkersburg would give unbeaten Huntington a run for its money in the first of two Mountain State Athletic Conference showdowns between the two schools.
Little did anyone know, however, that those would be the last points scored by the Big Reds until a Haley Ackerman deuce with 3:20 remaining until the intermission while the Highlanders went on a 10-0 run en route to capturing a 75-49 victory Tuesday night at Memorial Fieldhouse.
Huntington, now 5-0, received a game-high 23 points from first team all-state performer Kiana Evans while teammates Ericka Budd chipped in with 16 points and Alexis Williams added 13.
Article Photos
Parkersburg's Imani Ward, left, looks to shoot the ball over Huntington's Alexis Williams during their game Tuesday at Memorial Fieldhouse. Huntington scored a 75-49 win over Parkersburg. (Photo by Jeff Baughan)
Parkersburg, now 2-2, got 17 points from Morrison-15 coming off on triples-while Imani Ward added seven points, six rebounds and three steals.
The Big Reds' Kennedy Walker got things rolling for the red and white with a layin off of a Ward pass with 6:50 showing on the clock. But, the Highlanders tallied the next six points to take the lead for good, 6-2 with 5:14 remaining in the opening stanza of play.
A Kailey Cox triple nine seconds later sliced that margin to one, 6-5, but a rebound bucket by Evans, who has already committed to play at Marshall University next season, and a layin by freshman Ericka Budd pushed the margin back to five, 10-5, with four minutes showing on the clock.
Again Parkersburg answered with its favorite weapon of the night-the trey-as Nicole Dent connected on the long range jumper to bring the hosts back to within three, 10-7, at the 2:30 mark.
An Evans deuce was followed by a Morrison trey for the Big Reds and the score stood at 12-10 with two minutes left in the quarter. Evans' third bucket of the frame gave the visitors a 14-10 lead with 76 seconds left while Morrison's second triple of the quarter pulled the hosts back to within one, 14-13, before the Highlanders' Williams hit one-of-two from the charity stripe for the final points of the frame.
That would be as close as the Big Reds would get as a Williams triple ignited a 10-0 run by the visitors to push the margin to double-figures, 24-13, with 3:27 left until the half. Huntington would go on to outscore their hosts by a 19-9 margin in the quarter to take a 34-22 lead to the locker rooms at the intermission.
A lead that expanded to 23, 59-36, after three quarters of play and went to 32, 73-41, on an Evans deuce with four minutes left to play in the game. Reserves for both teams finished out the last half of the final quarter.
