Box Score No one could have been surprised if an emergency call had gone out to a Maytag repair man midway through Thursday night's Ashland-Ohio Dominican women's basketball game.
At times, this game seemed like it was played in a dryer with all the rough and tumble play. From the AU perspective that's fine because the Eagles came clean without a wrinkle on their record thanks to a 53-50 win in overtime.
Ashland has a six-game winning streak and is 16-8, 14-6 in GLIAC action. The Eagles are in first place in the GLIAC South Division and tied for the third best overall record in the league. AU and Northern Michigan share the third overall spot. The Wildcats downed Lake Superior, 52-38 on Thursday.
Give the Eagles credit, they found themselves in a tough, defensive-oriented game at ODU and they never blinked. The Eagles would prefer to open up the court and the Panthers (10-14/7-13) didn't allow that to happen. The Eagles prevailed thanks to defense and the ability to make big plays at key times.
Neither team had much luck offensively. AU shot 32.8 percent from the field and ODU checked in at 28.6 percent. The Panthers also shot 28.6 percent (4-of-14) at the free throw line. In the overtime period, ODU went 2-for-6 from the floor and 0-for-5 at the free throw line. AU went 11-for-15 on free throws.
Ashland had a 21-20 halftime lead. The Panthers were in front, 45-43 with 59 seconds left in regulation. AU senior guard Alyssa Miller hit a pair of free throws with 39 seconds to play to tie the game, 45-45. ODU got off the final shot in regulation, a jumper by Melissa Scherpenberg with two seconds to play. When it missed, the teams went to the extra session.
This was AU's first overtime game of the season. Ashland never trailed in the extra period. A layup by Jamie Sobczak 18 seconds into overtime put AU in front, 47-45. A jumper by Melanie Poorman with 2:33 left in overtime gave Ashland a 49-45 spread.
ODU's Tori Beth Leader buried a three-pointer with 30 seconds left to slice the AU lead to 51-50. Miller came up big for the Eagles at the free throw line with 21 seconds to play, hitting a pair of charity tosses for a 53-50 lead. Miller was 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
ODU missed its final shot, a layup with five seconds to play.
Guard Taylor Woods led the Eagles with 14 points. She also had seven rebounds. Miller had 10 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Sobczak scored six points and pulled down eight rebounds.
Scherpenberg had 15 points, 19 rebounds and three blocked shots. Kacee Hockenberry scored eight points and collected 11 rebounds. Leader had 11 points and five rebounds.
Ashland out-rebounded ODU, 50-49. The Eagles are 3-1 in games decided by three points or less this season.
AU will play at Tiffin on Saturday (Feb. 22, 1 p.m.).
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