BANGOR, Maine — Husson University has built much of this season’s success around its pressure defense.
It took a while for the Eagles to get things cranked up on Friday night, but their aggressive defense and transition offense came to the forefront in the second half as they pulled away for a 73-39 North Atlantic Conference women’s basketball victory over Lyndon State at Newman Gymnasium.
“At halftime coach said to turn it up five, six, maybe seven notches if we could,” said junior guard Chandler Guerrette of Presque Isle. “We were playing all right, we just needed to turn up the intensity a little more.”
First-place Husson (14-5, 12-1 NAC) used a diamond-and-one full-court press and some trapping in the half-court, which forced Hornets turnovers and put the Eagles into their preferred uptempo offensive style. Coach Kissy Walker’s Eagles scored 32 points as the result of 35 turnovers by Lyndon State (4-15, 3-10 NAC).
“We really wanted to just come out man-to-man, get right in their shirt and do a little bit of run-and-jump and hopefully wear them down,” Walker said.
Senior guard Victoria McIntyre of Mars Hill (7 steals), Guerrette (5 steals) and freshman guard Kenzie Worcester of Washburn (4 steals) were the defensive stalwarts for Husson, which registered 23 steals as a unit.
McIntyre paced the well-balanced offense with 12 points, along with six rebounds and four assists, while Guerrette tallied 11 points and five assists. Worcester netted nine points with four assists and Rebecca Young (5 rebounds) and Denae Johnson added eight points each.
Mikayla Hodge led Lyndon State with eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds, and Samantha Thurston provided seven points and four rebounds. Seven players had at least three turnovers.
The Hornets, who trailed by only 12 at halftime, began to succumb to their turnover woes in the third period. The visitors made one last charge as Aimee Thompson scored four points during an 8-0 burst to cut Husson’s lead to 36-27 with 6:39 left in the quarter.
The Eagles answered with a 7-0 run that included two free throws and a 10-footer from the lane by McIntyre and Worcester’s 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 43-27.
After two Thurston foul shots, Husson peeled off another 12 unanswered points to put the game out of reach. Guerrette knocked down a couple of 3-pointers during that surge as the Eagles made it 55-29.
“Our offense really comes from our defense, so we thought that if we could play a little tougher, we could get up by a little more,” Guerrette said.
“We try to just make teams uncomfortable, play defense like we wouldn’t want defense to be played against us. That’s kind of our philosophy,” she added.
The Eagles built a lead of as many as 17 points in the first half, but led by only 12 at halftime. Husson hit some 3-pointers early, then pounded the ball inside to Young later in the half.