Box Score The old adage goes – "offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships."
Ashland University's women's basketball team, ranked No. 6 in Division II, used stellar defense once again to improve to 23-1 overall and 17-1 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with a 78-67 win over Findlay (14-10, 9-9) on Thursday (Feb. 11) night at Kates Gymnasium.
"That's what we've talked about all season, that that's got to be the staple of what we do," said Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick, whose team kept the Oilers to 41.5-percent shooting from the field and 33.3-percent shooting from 3-point range. "Our defense has to be rock-solid. I was proud of our defense."
Coach Fralick Post-Game Comments
The victory, the Eagles' 24th in a row at home, moves them one step closer to both a GLIAC South Division and an overall conference regular-season championship. Ashland leads second-place Ohio Dominican and Walsh in the South by four games with four to play, and can clinch the division title on Saturday (Feb. 13) at home against Wayne State.
AU leads the entire conference by three games with four to play.
Ashland was led by its three sophomore forwards. Laina Snyder filled up the stat sheet with game-highs in points (18), rebounds (14), assists (four) and blocks (four), while adding three steals. Andi Daugherty posted 17 points, eight boards, two assists and a steal, while Julie Worley racked up 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a block in 20 minutes off the bench.
"They've all been very productive all year, and they impact the game in a lot of ways," Fralick said.
AU had 20 assists on 28 field goals, and turned the ball over just 11 times.
The Eagles led 13-11 after the first quarter, and kept the Oilers off the scoreboard for nearly five minutes into the second period. A 3-pointer by junior point guard Alex Henning lifted AU to a 27-21 advantage with two minutes to go until halftime, and it was a 29-26 halftime lead.
Snyder had her 24th career double-double in the game's first 20 minutes (11 points, 11 rebounds).
The Eagles extended their lead to 17 points at the end of the third quarter and didn't look back.
Ashland will finish its three-game GLIAC homestand on Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Warriors (10-14, 5-13).
THE NOTEBOOK: The AU program record consecutive home wins is 44 from Feb. 3, 2011-Nov. 9, 2013…The win was Ashland's sixth in a row against Findlay at Kates Gymnasium…Ashland has re-tied Bentley for the most wins in Division II since the start of the 2010-11 season with 155 (155-32, .829)…AU's 23 wins represent a tie for the fourth-most in a single season in program history…Snyder, Daugherty and/or Worley have led or co-led Ashland in rebounds in 57 of 58 career games.
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