Box Score CANTON, Ohio – In a game which turned out to be a long-range shootout, it was the No. 6-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team which hit just enough targets.
The Eagles improved to 16-0 overall and 10-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference following a 97-84 win on Saturday (Jan. 16) afternoon at Malone (5-10, 2-8). AU continues to pace both the GLIAC overall and South Division standings through the first two games of South play.
"A lot of threes made, both teams," said Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick, whose team hit a season-high 11 triples – and gave up a season-high 16 to the Pioneers. "Definitely wasn't something we were assuming, but we know that's what Malone does. They made some early. We need to do a better job defensively, but they played really well.
"I'm glad that we made enough shots and made enough plays to win."
Ashland's 16 consecutive wins to begin the season marks the program's second-best start, only trailing the 24 in a row won at the start of the 2012-13 national championship season.
In the Eagles' last 150 games, they have won 129 of them (.860).
Senior guard McKenzie Miller scored a career-high 26 points while adding six rebounds and six assists. Included in that career-high scoring figure was six treys.
"I just shot the ball like any other day," Miller said. "I was just confident. I just took my shots when I was open. I got passes from my teammates. Without those, I wouldn't have gotten those threes."
Miller Post-Game Comments
Said Fralick, "Kenzie played great. She was really aggressive offensively. All season, she's been a really consistent passer. What was most fun about watching her tonight was just how aggressive she was."
Miller has been through prolonged winning streaks before. She was a freshman reserve on the national title team.
"Coming in my freshman year, I was part of an amazing team, but I was a role player," she said. "Just being able to work my way up and be a part of this is amazing. I learned from some of the best that ever came through this program."
Sophomore forward Andi Daugherty scored 21 points and had a team-high nine rebounds to go with five assists and three steals, sophomore forward Laina Snyder added 11 points, six boards, six assists, three blocks and two steals, and junior guard Kelsey Peare and sophomore forward Julie Worley each had 10 points.
It was the second game this season in which two Eagles each scored at least 20 points, and the first in which five AU players reached double figures.
Ashland dished out 31 assists as a team (a career-high eight by junior guard Alex Henning) – two short of the school's single-game record of 33. That was a major factor in the Eagles shooting 55.7 percent from the field and 45.8 percent from 3-point range.
The Eagles had a 22-18 lead after one quarter, thanks in large part to seven assists on nine baskets, four of which were 3-pointers. All six AU players who scored had at least three points.
AU extended its lead to 37-25 just out of the second-quarter media timeout, but a 9-0 Pioneers run on three straight triples cut that advantage to 37-36 with 2:19 left until the break. Ashland responded, however, with seven straight points to end the half – the last three coming on a Miller corner trey.
Despite Malone continuing to hit from downtown, Ashland was able to pull away in the third quarter, taking a 72-57 lead into the game's final 10 minutes. The Pioneers' long-range shooting brought a potential rout back to a 93-81 game with 2:22 to play, but the Eagles prevailed.
Ashland will go back on the road on Thursday (Jan. 21) at 5:30 p.m. to continue GLIAC South play against Findlay (11-5, 6-4).
EAGLE NUGGETS: The Eagles came into Saturday's game as one of just five undefeated Division II women's basketball teams…Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Ashland is 83-12 (.874) in the GLIAC and 51-13 (.797) on the road…The sophomore trio of Snyder, Daugherty and Worley have led or co-led Ashland in rebounds in all 50 games together.
Game Highlights
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