Box Score Ashland University senior guard Taylor Woods is making sure every game down the stretch in her college career counts.
Woods paced the Eagles with 21 points, including five 3-point field goals, in Ashland's 80-64 win over Walsh on Saturday (March 7) in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal on the campus of Michigan Tech.
"You're in the Final Four in the GLIAC in a conference that all year has been tough games night in and night out," said Ashland head coach Sue Ramsey. "The main thing we did extremely well was play defense. That has been our signature. That has been our thing we want to do. Our young ladies buy in to playing defense. That was good execution of a game plan."
The Eagles (23-7) will take on Michigan Tech (26-2) in the 2015 GLIAC Tournament championship game on Sunday (March 8) at 2 p.m. in Houghton, Mich. The Huskies defeated Grand Valley State, 77-66, in Saturday's first GLIAC Tournament semifinal.
"I am really excited about tomorrow," Ramsey said. "I thought the Grand Valley-Tech game was a really good game. We're going to have our work cut out for us. We'll be ready, and it will be a very different game from today's game. It should be a fun matchup. We're excited that we're playing in the championship game of the GLIAC."
Ashland enters the title game having won six games in a row, 14 of its last 15 and 21 of its last 24. This will be the Eagles' third GLIAC Tournament title game appearance in the last four seasons, with the other two resulting in championships (2012 and 2013). Ashland is 18-13 all-time in the tournament, and is 2-4 in tourney title contests.
In the only regular-season meeting between the Eagles and the Huskies in 2014-15, Tech won at home, 63-39.
Walsh finishes its season at 20-10.
Woods has 1,437 career points, 38 behind Vicki Schmitz (1,475) for third all-time in program history. She also has hit 98 3-pointers in 2014-15, which ties her for the Ashland single-season record, set by former teammate Jena Stutzman in 2011-12. Woods added five rebounds and three steals in Saturday's victory.
"Taylor had a phenomenal game, excellent managing of the game and she has been doing that game in and game out," said Ramsey. "Her contributions defensively don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet."
Ashland's freshman forward trio was solid again versus the Cavaliers. Laina Snyder had 17 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks; Andi Daugherty had six points, a team-high 10 boards and two assists and Julie Worley came off the bench to post 11 points, two rebounds and two steals.
"I was so impressed with what Julie did," Ramsey said. "She has just been a great contributor coming off the bench, and is making the most of her time on the floor. She was aggressive going to the basket. You couple that with Laina and Andi's production. Andi's defense was really, really stellar again, guarding both guards and posts."
Junior guard McKenzie Miller dished off six of the Eagles' 19 assists, and has 40 helpers in the last nine games.
"That's the beauty of the offense now," Ramsey said. "We are getting good passes that lead to good shots."
The Eagles shot 50 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the free-throw line. Ashland kept Walsh to 30.4-percent shooting from the floor and 26.8-percent shooting from 3-point range. AU boasted a 48-34 rebounding advantage, and turned 18 Cavalier turnovers into 22 points.
NOTES: Ashland is 18-3 (.857) in conference games in Michigan in the last four seasons, and Saturday's game was the first in that stretch against a non-Michigan-based team…The Eagles' 23 wins are tied for the third-most in program history (37 in 2012-13, 33 in 2011-12 and 23 in 2003-04)…Ashland has been led or co-led in rebounds by a freshman in 32 consecutive games.
AU
WBKB/DS
