Box Score LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE
A white-hot shooting effort in the first two quarters lifted No. 2-ranked Ashland University women's basketball to a 101-47 win over Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Jan. 25) afternoon at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles remain one of three undefeated women's basketball teams in NCAA Division II (along with Drury and Texas A&M-Commerce) at 19-0 overall and 11-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Cardinals are 8-11, 4-7.
"That was Ashland women's basketball for 40 minutes," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens. "Every single person who came onto the court added a positive contribution. That's when it's really, really fun. I thought our defensive effort was outstanding.
"I'm just really proud of our girls' effort."
Thanks to a 13th consecutive win in the series, Ashland improves to 26-1 all-time as the No. 2-ranked team in the coaches poll.
EXTENDED RUN ALLOWS EAGLES TO PULL AWAY EARLY
The Cardinals led 5-4 in the early going, then Ashland proceeded to score the next 11 points prior to the first-quarter media timeout. By the time the quarter ended, the overall AU run was 22-2, and the score was 26-7 in favor of the Eagles.
On the last field goal of the period, a 3-pointer by senior forward Sara Loomis, senior point guard Renee Stimpert became the 12th player in NCAA Division II women's basketball history to post at least 1,000 points and 750 assists in a career.
In that first quarter, Ashland missed just two shots from the floor (11-for-13), while scoring 10 points on six Cardinal turnovers.
SCORCHING AU SHOOTING CONTINUED TO FINISH FIRST HALF
Saginaw Valley State scored the first five points of the second quarter to cut its deficit to 14 points, but the Eagles righted the ship to the tune of a 6-0 spurt for a 32-12 advantage.
Ashland's lead kept climbing throughout the second period. At the half, that lead was 51-21, and the Eagles' field-goal percentage dropped to 74.1. On the other end of the court, the Cardinals were kept to 37.5 percent from the field and turned the ball over 12 times.
SLOW THIRD-QUARTER START DOESN'T HINDER ASHLAND
Neither team scored in the initial two minutes of the third quarter, but that only delayed the Eagles extending their lead. With 4:29 to go in the period, at the media stoppage, Ashland was up by 37 points at 63-26.
The pace slowed once again to finish the stanza, but AU still took a 70-36 lead into the fourth.
JOHNSON MAKES MORE EAGLE HISTORY
On Saturday, senior guard Jodi Johnson became the program's all-time free throws made leader with 485, passing Amber Rall (484).
"That's kind of crazy," Johnson said. "It's part of my game, finishing through contact, just being aggressive day in and day out."
THE SUMMARY
Five Eagles scored in double figures in the victory – Loomis (24), Johnson (19), sophomore guard Hallie Heidemann (17), Stimpert (12) and junior forward Karlee Pireu (10). Ashland finished the afternoon shooting 65.6 percent from the field, just shy of the school record of 66.1, made 14-of-28 from the 3-point arc, had 28 assists on 40 made field goals, turned the ball over just 10 times, and was plus-10 in rebounds (32-22).
"I joke, I love stats," Pickens said. "I tell the girls stats don't lie, feelings do. When I look at the stat sheet, there's not a single thing that I can critique."
Johnson now has 1,988 career points, in her quest to become the fourth player in program history to get to 2,000. Loomis is up to 1,283 career points, passing Sue Rupp into 11th place on AU's all-time list.
Kaitlyn Zarycki paced the Cardinals with 11 points. Saginaw Valley State was held to 37.8 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from beyond the arc, and turned the ball over 21 times.
UP NEXT – FERRIS STATE
The third game of the four-game home stand on Thursday (Jan. 30) at 5:30 p.m. vs. Ferris State.
Ashland has beaten the Bulldogs seven straight times.
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