Box Score Wednesday (March 4) night's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal was the final game at Kates Gymnasium for Ashland University head coach Sue Ramsey and senior guard Taylor Woods.
Freshman forward Laina Snyder and sophomore guard Kelsey Peare made sure both will get at least one more game with the Purple and Gold.
The Eagles began GLIAC Tournament play with a 77-60 home win on Wednesday against Northwood. Ashland is 22-7 overall, and has won five games in a row, 13 of its last 14 and 20 of its last 23. AU finishes the 2014-15 home schedule with a 12-game Kates winning streak.
Ashland will play Walsh in a GLIAC Tournament semifinal at Michigan Tech on Saturday (March 7) at 2:30 p.m.
Snyder scored a career-high 33 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line, and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds to go with four assists, two blocks and three steals.
"To get that win, that was big, just for the NCAA Tournament and the GLIAC Tournament," Snyder said. "It was what we needed."
"We knew that last time, we scored in the paint on them. We knew they would have difficulty guarding us inside," Ramsey said.
Peare scored 10 points and posted six boards, two assists and three steals. Her aggressiveness on both ends of the floor helped Ashland rally from a 33-20 first-half deficit.
"That was really key for us," Ramsey said. "I just thought Kelsey's aggressiveness in that first half really, really got us going. She got fouled, she got to the foul line. It was a real momentum-booster for us."
Peare said, "She (Ramsey) does so much for us, and I'm really glad we could just all go out there and play our hearts out in our last home game and do this for her and Taylor and just each other. It was fun."
Down 13, the Eagles chipped away at the Timberwolves' lead, finishing the first half on a 14-3 run when Woods hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer – the difference between trailing 36-34 at the half, and trailing 36-31.
"I felt like our defense could really improve in the second half," Ramsey said. "Our defense gets our offense going."
To start the second half, Ashland and Northwood (18-11) were tied four times in a span of 3:39. With the game knotted at 42, the Eagles scored six points in a row, and never looked back. Snyder scored 21 of her points in the game's final 20 minutes, going 9-for-11 from the floor in the process.
"We knew we talent coming in (to the season)," Snyder said, "and it was just a matter of using it. We've all come together and just exploded with everything. Now it is paying off."
Freshman forward Andi Daugherty scored 17 points and added seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Woods had eight points, six boards and four assists, and passed former teammate and current assistant coach Kari (Daugherty) Pickens for fourth place on the program's all-time scoring list (1,416).
Ashland shot 63 percent from the floor in the second half after hitting 34.4 percent in the first 20 minutes. The Eagles had a 42-34 rebounding advantage, and kept the Timberwolves to 33.9-percent shooting from the field and 22.2-percent shooting from 3-point range.
Wednesday night's game was just the second time in 2014-15 the Eagles had won after trailing at halftime. The other time was the first meeting against Northwood on Jan. 2.
And Ramsey indeed has coached her final game in Kates Gymnasium.
"I had to grab one of my colored towels…and wipe away a few tears," she said about her pre-game thoughts. "A lot of that was just what this community's done to support us in 20 years. The fans, there were 600 people – the lights go off, the spotlight goes on and everyone was cheering. It was very overwhelming in that sense. It was just a very special moment to think about my parents, and I did."
NOTES: The Eagles are 17-13 all-time in the GLIAC Tournament…Ashland is 70-10 (.875) at home in the last five seasons…The Eagles have been led or co-led in rebounds by a freshman in 31 consecutive games.
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