Box Score Shift work isn't for everyone.
Some folks thrive on 9-to-5.
The second shift AU women's basketball coach Sue Ramsey employs - the group of Melanie Poorman, McKenzie Miller and Rachelle Morrison - came off the bench at Walsh Thursday night (Feb. 6) to score 38 points. That played big as the Eagles downed the Cavaliers, 85-75.
This was AU's second consecutive win. The Eagles are 12-8 and 10-6 in the GLIAC. The Eagles share first place in the GLIAC South Division with Malone. The Eagles and Pioneers will tangle on Saturday (Feb. 8, 1 p.m.) at Malone. On Thursday, Malone defeated Lake Erie, 82-62.
Poorman, Miller and Morrison didn't just punch the time clock, they helped douse the fire against a determined and dangerous Walsh outfit. Poorman had 16 points (10 in the second half) and four rebounds. Miller had 11 points and nine boards in 25 minutes and Morrison had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.
As for the starters, forward Suzy Wollenhaupt had 16 points, five rebounds and rejected four shots. Guard Taylor Woods had 14 points.
This would have been an easy game for the Eagles to struggle with their focus. They had to play at Lake Erie on Monday and the game with Malone is set for Saturday. This was the sandwich game, the game where maybe the legs are heavy and the eyes wander. That would be a mistake against Walsh (7-14/3-12), which was coming off of a win against Malone.
The Eagles scored the game's first six points. With 11:29 to go in the first half the game was tied, 13-13. The Eagles took off on a 15-0 run and led, 28-13 with 7:50 remaining in the half. Miller fired in a pair of three-pointers in that spurt.
At halftime Ashland was in front, 44-29.
Maybe Monday's win over Malone bolstered the Cavs' confidence because they did not go away. Instead, they battled back and with 6:29 left in the game, AU's lead was down to 63-62. Morrison answered with a trey to put the Eagles ahead, 66-62.
At the 5:43 mark, a Poorman jumper gave AU a 68-64 lead. Poorman's layup with 2:52 to play gave the Eagles a 73-68 edge. The junior connected on a jumper with 2:21 left to extend AU's lead to 75-68. Twenty-four seconds later Wollenhaupt scored and Ashland had a 77-68 lead. That was too much for the Cavaliers.
This was not the cleanest game of the season by any means. AU had 19 turnovers and Walsh had 20. But, the Eagles went 17-of-18 (94.4 percent) at the free throw line and that helped make up for some of those errors. The Eagles are third in the country in free throw percentage.
Walsh's Kelsey Funderburgh had 20 points to lead all players in the game. Jalynn Graham had 16 points and seven rebounds.
Thursday's win gives the Eagles a sweep of the season series against the Cavaliers.
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