No. 3 Eagles Set For Three GLIAC Games In Five Days

For the full PDF version of the Week 11 game notes, go to http://goashlandeagles.com/sports/wbkb/2015-16/files/WK11WBKB.pdf.

Opening Tip

Ashland University's women's basketball team, ranked No. 3 in Division II, will play three Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games in five days in Week 11.

The Eagles, 18-0 overall and 12-0 in the GLIAC, lead the conference's overall standings by three games over four teams, and the South Division standings by three games over Ohio Dominican (14-4, 9-3) - their opponent on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m.

Ashland finishes the week with a home game against Tiffin (5-12, 3-9) on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 1 p.m., then a road game vs. Lake Erie (6-12, 3-9) on Monday, Feb. 1 at 5:30 p.m.

WNCO-AM 1340 will have the live call of all three games, with Matt Brubaker on play-by-play.

The Eagles are coming off two come-from-behind road victories in Week 10 - 78-69 against Findlay and 92-82 in double overtime vs. Wayne State.

Ashland's 18-game winning streak to start 2015-16 is the program's second-longest, behind only the 24 straight by the 2012-13 Division II national championship team. It also is the longest current winning streak in D-II through Jan. 25.

A Look Back At Week Ten

At Findlay, the Eagles rallied from a 13-point second-quarter deficit for a 78-69 victory.

Individually, the Eagles were paced by junior point guard Alex Henning and sophomore forward Andi Daugherty. Henning not only scored a career-high 24 points, but doubled her previous high as an Eagle. She was 7-for-12 from the field and 9-for-10 from the free-throw line while adding seven rebounds and three steals.

Daugherty filled up the stat sheet with 21 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 9-of-11 from the foul line, a team-high eight boards, five assists, two blocks and five steals.

Sophomore forward Laina Snyder added 12 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

In the second half, the Eagles shot 57.9 percent from the floor and was 22-of-25 from the charity stripe. AU had a 31-26 rebounding advantage, and turned 21 Oiler turnovers into 23 points.

At Wayne State, two last-second 3-point field goals by the Warriors forced both a first and second overtime period, but Ashland prevailed, 92-82.

There were many key players and performances for Ashland along the way. Daugherty scored a career-high 32 points to go with 13 rebounds for her 12th career double-double. She was 9-for-10 from the free-throw line, and added four assists and three steals.

Both senior guard McKenzie Miller and Henning scored 18 points, while Snyder finished with 15 points, a career-high-tying 18 rebounds (her 21st career double-double), three assists, four steals and two blocks.

Ashland had a 58-51 rebounding advantage, grabbing its most boards since Nov. 15, 2014 against Urbana (65). The Eagles turned the ball over just nine times, and converted 16 Warrior turnovers into 16 points.

Unofficially, according to research conducted by Liberty University assistant athletics communications director Joe Carmany, AU head coach Robyn Fralick has tied the record for most consecutive wins to begin a Division II head coaching career. The NCAA does not keep official records in this category.

"The GLIAC's really good," Fralick said. "We had three straight road games, and the teams we played, played really well. We got challenged. We had our backs to the wall."

Findlay & Wayne State Review

Ashland Against The Field

OHIO DOMINICAN

Last season, the Eagles defeated the Panthers by 20 points twice - 72-52 on the road and 81-61 at home.

The road victory was then-head coach Sue Ramsey's 450th career win. Guard Taylor Woods had a second half to remember, as she scored 21 of her game-high 23 points. Snyder had 12 points and eight rebounds, and forward Julie Worley had six points and a team-high nine rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Both Woods and Miller had four assists in the victory.

TIFFIN

In 2014-15, Ashland topped Tiffin twice - 91-63 on the road and 81-47 at home. In the home game on Senior Day, Woods scored 20 points, hit six 3-point field goals and added five assists and two steals. Daugherty filled out the stat sheet with nine points, a game-high 12 rebounds, five blocks and four steals, to go with four assists.

LAKE ERIE

The Eagles defeated the Storm twice a season ago - 76-43 at home and 75-38 on the road.

FRALICK SAYS...

"Three games that close is a different challenge, but everybody in the league has that challenge. For us, it's just focusing consistently, one game at a time."

Coach Fralick Three-Game Preview

Daugherty Earns National, GLIAC Honors

In back-to-back days, Daugherty earned GLIAC South Division Player of the Week, then U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Division II Women's Basketball Player of the Week honors.

The Week 10 GLIAC South Player of the Week award is Daugherty's third of the season and fifth of her 52-game career, while the USBWA honor is her first nationally.

Daugherty finished last week with 53 points (her highest back-to-back total at Ashland), 21 boards, nine assists and eight steals while going 18-for-21 from the foul line. After scoring 20 or more points in seven of her first 47 games, she has done so in four of the last five contests.

"She played really well both games this weekend," Fralick said. "She makes winning plays, whether it's a tough finish in a crowd or diving head-first for a loose ball or getting a big rebound. Obviously, a great weekend was really critical to our team's success."

Daugherty is third in the GLIAC in scoring at 16.4 points per game, sixth in field-goal percentage at 53.6 and seventh in rebounding at 7.6 per contest.

Between Daugherty and Snyder (three), Ashland has six of this season's 10 GLIAC South Player of the Week honors.

And The Beat Goes On…

The sophomore forward trio of Snyder, Daugherty and Worley has been with the Eagles for 52 games, and one or more of them have led AU in rebounds in a game in all of them:

Eagles Move To No. 3 In Coaches' Poll

Ashland got one step closer to the top spot in the weekly USA TODAY Sports Top 25 coaches' poll, as the Eagles are ranked No. 3 in the latest edition, released on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

It is the 24th time in the regular season that Ashland has been in the Top 5 in the poll.

AU also received one of 24 first-place votes for the second week in a row.

This is the 28th time, not counting preseason, Ashland has been ranked in the Top 10. Not counting preseason, this is the 42nd week AU has been ranked in the Top 25 – 39 of those coming since the start of the 2011-12 season. Ashland also has been in the Top 25 in three of the last four preseason polls, including as the top-ranked team in Division II to begin 2012-13.

AU One Of Three Unbeatens In D-II

Coming into the week, Ashland is one of three undefeated NCAA Division II women's basketball teams:

Long Undefeated Start Nothing New

The Eagles' 18-0 start is their best since the 2012-13 NCAA Division II national championship team won its first 24 contests.

Ashland has had its share of strong starts to a season:

AU Keeps Winning In The State Up North

Ashland has played, and won, all five regular-season GLIAC games in Michigan. The Eagles have enjoyed more than their fair share of success there in recent years, going 29-9 (.763) since the start of the 2010-11 season:

"Every team we play in the GLIAC, whether it's Michigan or Ohio, is really good," Fralick said. "I don't think there's anything particular to it, but there's been some good teams here the last few years."

Eagles Keep Winning Streaks Alive

Ashland's victory at Wayne State kept four of the program's five categorical winning streaks alive:

* - Through Jan. 25, 2016, Limestone had won 25 consecutive road games.

Through Jan. 25, Ashland has the longest overall winning streak in Division II and the country's fourth-longest home winning streak.

Sophomore Forwards Posting Big Numbers

The troika of Daugherty, Snyder and Worley have put up impressive scoring and rebounding stats since the turn of the calendar to 2016:

NCAA Rankings

Through Jan. 24, Ashland ranks in the Top 20 in Division II in field-goal percentage (fourth, 48.2), assists per game (fourth, 19.9), assist-to-turnover ratio (fourth, 1.37-to-1), scoring margin per game (11th, 19.9), rebounding margin per game (tied for 12th, 9.2) and scoring offense per game (16th, 78.9).

Snyder ranks sixth in the country in steals per game (3.33).

GLIAC Rankings

Through Jan. 24, the Eagles lead the conference in points per game, field-goal percentage, assists per game and rebounding margin per game. AU is second in scoring defense (54.7 ppg.), and third in 3-point field-goal percentage (36.7), rebounds per game (40.4) and field-goal percentage defense (39.1).

Snyder (119) and Daugherty (118) are 2-3 in the league in field goals made, Daugherty is third in scoring, Snyder is first in steals per game and third in rebounding (9.1 rpg.) and Miller is third in assists per game (4.4) and fourth in 3-point field-goal percentage (44.0).

AU

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