Box Score The win train at Kates Gymnasium continues to roll along.
Ashland University's women's basketball team, ranked No. 12 in Division II, took a 72-57 decision from Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Dec. 12) afternoon at home. AU is 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and is the GLIAC's lone undefeated team, while the Cardinals are 4-4, 1-2.
"Saginaw's a really good team. Very experienced," said Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick. "Very physical game. I was proud of our team. We shot really well against Hillsdale, and tonight, we didn't, but we found a way to win and found a way to grind it out."
Saturday's win was Ashland's 11th straight conference regular-season triumph at home, and the Eagles are 46-8 (.852) in their last 54 such contests.
AU's offense was paced by their leading-scoring trio of sophomore forward Andi Daugherty (19 points), sophomore forward Laina Snyder (18) and senior guard McKenzie Miller (16). Both Snyder and junior guard Alex Henning grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, while Miller (seven) and junior guard Kelsey Peare (five) combined for 12 of the Eagles' 22 assists.
Defensively, Ashland held SVSU to 43.1-percent shooting from the field while forcing 22 turnovers, which resulted in 23 Eagle points. Snyder had five of AU's 13 steals.
"It was our defense, there was no doubt about it," Fralick said. "Our defense was really good. Defense travels with you wherever you go, and that's what we're built on. I was very proud of our defensive effort, and I was very proud of our rebounding effort."
Ashland outrebounded Saginaw Valley State by a 39-26 margin.
The Eagles trailed 14-6 with 3:24 left in the first quarter before righting the ship, scoring nine consecutive points to close out the period. Ashland dominated the second quarter to take a 35-22 lead into halftime.
Saginaw Valley State cut its deficit to 39-31 with 5:34 left in the third quarter, but the Eagles established a 54-38 advantage through three and didn't look back.
Ashland will finish the 2015 portion of the 2015-16 schedule with its Holiday Inn Express Tournament on Dec. 19-20. The Eagles' games will be Dec. 19 at 5 p.m. against St. Joseph's (Ind.) and Dec. 20 at 4 p.m. vs. Urbana.
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