Box Score Ashland University's women's basketball team has a good memory.
The Eagles knew that the Walsh Cavaliers were the last team to beat them, a 64-50 decision in North Canton on Jan. 15, and they knew they didn't play "Eagle basketball" that night.
But Ashland made sure that recent history wasn't repeated on Thursday (Feb. 5) night at Kates Gymnasium, taking a 90-62 decision over Walsh for its seventh straight victory. The Eagles now are 16-6 overall and 12-4 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and have won 14 of their last 16 games overall and 12 of their last 14 in the league.
This is Ashland's second seven-game winning streak of the 2014-15 season.
"It's just the growth of our team in the last two weeks," said Ashland head coach Sue Ramsey. "The last Walsh game was a good eye-opener for us. We learned, and we learn from every situation we're in."
Walsh now is 14-8, 8-8.
As has been the custom throughout their winning streak, several Eagles played big roles in the victory. Both senior guard Taylor Woods and freshman forward Laina Snyder finished with a game-high 21 points, with Woods adding eight assists and five rebounds, and Snyder posting yet another double-double (11 rebounds) and adding three assists and three steals.
Both junior guard McKenzie Miller and freshman forward Julie Worley had 11 points, freshman forward Andi Daugherty tied for the team lead with Snyder with 11 boards, sophomore guard Kelsey Peare had eight assists and four rebounds and Miller added six helpers.
In all, Ashland had a team-record 33 assists on its 36 field goals.
"When you have good ball movement and you share the basketball like we love to, the shooting percentages end up pretty high," Ramsey said. "I'm just proud of the total team."
The Eagles shot 51.4 percent from the field and had a decided 50-38 rebounding advantage, and they kept the Cavaliers to just 31.3-percent shooting from the floor and 20-percent shooting from 3-point range.
"When I see that (defense), that's the first stat I look at is the percentage of our opponents from the field," said Ramsey.
Ashland will begin a three-game road swing on Saturday (Feb. 7) at 1 p.m. against Malone.
"I'm very pleased, and just hope we continue to get better," Ramsey said. "That's not being greedy, that's just always wanting to continue to perfect what we can do on the floor.
"They believe in each other, which is where it starts. If a teammate is struggling a little bit, they've got each other's back, and they've got the belief of the coaching staff, for sure."
NOTES: Ashland now is 67-8 (.893) at home in the last five seasons…The Eagles now have had a freshman leader/co-leader in rebounds in 24 consecutive games…Ashland has shot 45 percent or better from the field in 12 games this season, and has won all 12.
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