NEWBURY—A 14-0 third-quarter run enabled Cardinal to pull away from host Newbury in a 49-35 nonconference win on Wednesday.
After the Black Knights pulled to within 27-26 early in the third, the Huskies went to work and hit big shots on the offensive end and shut down the Black Knights on defense.
“That was huge,” Cardinal coach Luke Kruse said. “In the first half, I thought we looked like a team that has played one game in three weeks because unfortunately that’s how our schedule worked out. We were a little rusty and we had a lot of open shots that we missed but I encouraged them in a couple of timeouts and at halftime that the shots are there and we’re going to start hitting them. In that spurt there to end the third quarter, that was just really good basketball. We were playing with energy, making our shots and getting after it on defense.”
Ashley Gubanyar scored nine of her game-high 16 points during that run on three 3-pointers. She hit four 3s in the game.
“She came to play in the second half,” Kruse said of Gubanyar. “She knocked down some shots and her spark defensively always gets us going too. She’s really a good two-way player and her offense in that third quarter was huge to get that run going for us.”
Haley Domen also helped to spark the Huskies in the third as she scored six of her eight points in the frame.
“Haley did what a good sixth-man should do by coming off the bench with energy, getting after the loose balls and hitting a couple shots when she had the opportunity,” Kruse said.
The Huskies took advantage of their size advantage in the first half.
They scored 12 of their first 16 points on put backs following an offensive rebound.
Camille Cummins and Brittni Lawrence combined to pull down 31 of Cardinal’s 45 rebounds. Cummins finished with 17 and Lawrence had 14.
“When you miss a lot of outside shots the opportunity is there to get some offensive rebounds and we’re fortunate to have Brittni and Camille down low that can grab some,” Kruse said. “Clearly, Newbury’s game plan was to make us shoot outside shots. They didn’t want to give Camille and Brittni easy chances down low so I told them they’d have to get their points scrapping loose balls and getting second chances for us. They took that message to heart and got some second chances for us, which was big.”
Cummins finished with 11 points while Lawrence pitched in with seven.
Adrian Naples added four points, Sydney Hahner finished with two and Annamarie Pollack scored one for the Huskies.
“Sydney Hahner played some great defense in her opportunity out there tonight and gave us a spark of energy off the bench,” Kruse said. “Adriana Naples had a good all-around game with seven rebounds and three steals to go along with her points.”
Hannah Grubbs led Newbury with 11 points and Mackenzie Grubbs also scored in double figures with 10 for the Black Knights, who saw their five-game win streak come to an end.
Cardinal improved to 6-7 overall while Newbury dropped to 8-7.
Cardinal 49, Newbury 35
Cardinal: Cummins 11, Hahner 2, Gubanyar 16, Naples 4, Pollack 1, Domen 8, Lawrence 7
Newbury: M. Grubbs 10, Hamilton 4, Elia 1, H. Grubbs 11, Brastoff 7
Cardinal 14 8 19 4 — 49
Newbury 9 8 7 9 — 35
Free throws: Cardinal 6 of 11, Newbury 7 of 18; 3-pointers: Cardinal 5 (Gubanyar 4, Damen 1), Newbury 0
