Box Score TIFFIN, Ohio – Ashland University's women's basketball team continued its march toward the start of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with an 85-69 win at Tiffin on Saturday (Feb. 20) afternoon.
The Eagles, the No. 1 seed for the GLIAC Tournament beginning on Tuesday, March 1, and already having won the league's regular season and South Division titles, improve to 26-1 overall and 20-1 in the conference with their fifth consecutive victory.
"The first 20 minutes were really good," said Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick. "I thought we set the tempo, did a good job causing turnovers, getting points off of that. The last 20 minutes, we'd like to see better."
Coach Fralick Post-Game Comments
Ashland's 26 wins represent the third-most in a season in program history, behind the 2012-13 national championship season (37) and the 2011-12 national runner-up campaign (33).
The Dragons are 7-19, 5-16.
AU was paced offensively by its three sophomore forwards. Laina Snyder scored a game-high 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field to reach 900 for her Eagle career. Snyder added nine rebounds.
"It really doesn't matter," Snyder said of the personal milestone. "We're all roommates. It's just really fun to be able to count on that other person and know that when one person subs in, it's just going to build. The level is going to be just as high."
Julie Worley came off the bench for 15 points on 6-of-8 from the field, and had four boards and two assists.
"We've been playing really well together as a team," Worley said. "Those two are some of my best friends, and we have a blast out on the court. We know each other's games so well."
Andi Daugherty finished with a dozen points and five caroms.
"It's very fun," Daugherty said. "We have a lot of fun together. It's really neat that each of us are contributing a lot this year."
Daugherty (15.7 ppg.), Snyder (15.5) and Worley (8.6) are 1, 2 and 4 on the team in scoring through 27 games.
"They've been really consistent for us this year," Fralick said of the three sophomore forwards, "their scoring, their rebounding, their defense. Obviously, very proud of their effort, and it's something that we expect out of them."
Junior point guard Alex Henning added 11 points and three steals, and the Eagles' two senior guards – McKenzie Miller and Jamie Sobczak – each had five assists.
Ashland shot 59.3 percent from the field and kept Tiffin to 44.2 percent. For the second straight game, the Eagles forced 24 turnovers, leading to 33 points.
"We really have been working on pressuring teams," Daugherty said. "I thought we executed really well in the first half."
The Eagles wasted no time setting the tone, taking a 10-2 lead early. That advantage swelled to 17-4 at the first media timeout of the game, then to 29-13 after the first 10 minutes thanks to 12-of-16 shooting from the floor.
Tiffin chipped away at its deficit in the second quarter via the long ball, getting the game down to 11 points at 35-24. Ashland, however, finished the first half on a 17-2 run to take a 52-26 lead into the break.
The Eagles led 66-46 after three quarters, and went on from there.
Ashland will return home for the regular-season finale on Thursday (Feb. 25) against Lake Erie (8-19, 5-16). It will be Senior Night at Kates Gymnasium.
"It's hard not to look too far ahead," Worley said. "We're obviously excited to be able to host (the conference tournament)."
THE NOTEBOOK: The Eagles have won more games than any other NCAA Division II women's basketball program since the start of the 2010-11 season (158)… Worley has scored double-digit points in 11 games since the calendar turned to 2016, and in six of the last seven games…Snyder, Daugherty and/or Worley have led or co-led Ashland in rebounds in 60 of 61 career games.
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