Box Score Most of the wins for Ashland University's women's basketball team in 2015-16 have come on Thursday nights and Saturday afternoons.
The No. 3-ranked Eagles proved they enjoy Monday nights as well, as they improved to 21-0 overall and 15-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after an 80-35 win at Lake Erie (7-14, 4-11) on Monday (Feb. 1).
Ashland is four games ahead of multiple teams for first place in the conference overall, and four games ahead of Ohio Dominican for the GLIAC South Division lead, with seven regular-season games to go.
With their 21st consecutive victory to begin the season, the Eagles are three wins away from tying the best start in program history (24-0), set at the beginning of the 2012-13 Division II championship campaign. Ashland also won its 25th straight regular-season game, its 19th GLIAC regular-season game in a row and its 11th consecutive road/neutral-site contest, just three shy of the program record of 14.
Ashland came into Monday night's game as one of only three undefeated women's basketball teams in Division II, while boasting the nation's longest current overall winning streak. It is 134-21 (.865) in its last 155 games.
Four Eagles scored in double figures – sophomore forwards Andi Daugherty (18), Laina Snyder (12) and Julie Worley (10), and junior point guard Alex Henning (10). Daugherty added six rebounds and six assists, Snyder collected six boards and three steals and Henning chipped in with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Senior guard McKenzie Miller led AU with a career-high-tying 10 rebounds – which also broke the streak of 54 consecutive games the Eagles were led or co-led in boards in a game by either Daugherty, Snyder or Worley.
Ashland kept Lake Erie to 23.7-percent shooting from the field and 13.0-percent shooting from 3-point range, while having a decided 53-32 rebounding advantage. The Eagles also had 24 assists on 30 made field goals.
Leading 9-7 in the first quarter, the Eagles scored the game's next 13 points and kept the Storm off the board for 4:10. At halftime, AU led 41-17, and yielded its fewest points of any half in 2015-16.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles allowed just two points to the Storm – the fewest given up in a quarter by AU since the new rule change to begin this season.
The Eagles will remain on the road to begin the second round of GLIAC South games on Thursday (Feb. 4) at 5:30 p.m. at Walsh (13-7, 10-5).
EAGLE NUGGETS: Monday's 45-point win was the Eagles' largest margin of victory since an 86-36 home decision over Davis & Elkins on Dec. 19, 2014…Since 2010-11 when Lake Erie joined the GLIAC, Ashland has won all 11 meetings by an average of 28.1 points…The Eagles boast four players who have scored at least 740 career points – junior forward Suzy Wollenhaupt (815), Snyder (798), Daugherty (751) and Miller (743).
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