Box Score LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE
Finishing off its third undefeated regular season in the last four years, the No. 2-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team took care of Wayne State on the road on Thursday (Feb. 27) night, 92-61.
The Eagles will enter the 2020 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament at 28-0 overall and 20-0 in the league. Ashland will seek to become the first GLIAC women's basketball team to win five consecutive GLIAC tourney titles.
Thursday's victory was the Eagles' 850th all-time, making AU just the 13th NCAA Division II women's basketball program to reach that plateau. The win also gives Ashland head coach Kari Pickens a 57-3 record (.950) through her first 60 games guiding the Eagles.
The Warriors also have qualified for the GLIAC Tournament, and are 15-13, 9-11.
Ashland has topped Wayne State in 11 consecutive meetings.
BACK-AND-FORTH FIRST ENDS WITH EAGLE LEAD
The Eagles and Warriors exchanged lead after lead after lead in the game's first six minutes, then Ashland, after trailing 11-10, went on a 15-4 run to end the first period and take a 26-14 lead into the second stanza.
Offensively, AU came out strong, turning the ball over just one time and hitting 10-of-19 from the field.
ASHLAND KEEPS RUN GOING THROUGH ENTIRE SECOND QUARTER
Ashland wasn't going to allow Wayne State to get back into the game on Senior Night, and an impressive 25-11 second quarter – which led to a 51-25 Eagle halftime lead – was paced by an 11-of-12 shooting barrage on offense, a defense that kept the Warriors to 4-of-16 from the floor, and a rebounding margin of 11-2.
Five Eagles – senior forward Sara Loomis (10), senior point guard Renee Stimpert (nine), sophomore guard Hallie Heidemann (eight), freshman forward Annie Roshak (eight) and junior forward Karlee Pireu (seven) – scored at least seven points in the game's first 20 minutes.
HOT SHOOTING DIDN'T END IN THIRD
Ashland extended its lead to 78-38 through three quarters, and hit 12-of-16 from the floor in the third in the process. In the second and third periods combined, the Eagles made 23-of-28 (82.1 percent) field-goal tries.
THE SUMMARY
The Eagles finished the night making 61.9 percent from the field and 9-of-16 from 3-point range, while out-rebounding the Warriors, 41-31.
Six Ashland players scored in double digits – Stimpert (15 points), Heidemann (14), Loomis (14), senior guard Jodi Johnson (13), Roshak (12) and Pireu (11). Loomis moved past her head coach for eighth place on AU's all-time scoring list with 1,425 career points, and Stimpert went past Maddie Dackin for 18th place on that list with 1,185 career points.
Stimpert also had four assists, giving her 825 as an Eagle, and putting her in ninth place on the D-II women's basketball all-time rolls.
Ashland scored at least 90 points in the game for the 16th time in 2019-20.
Defensively, Ashland kept Wayne State to 33.8 percent from the field and 4-of-17 from downtown.
UP NEXT – GLIAC TOURNAMENT QUARTERFINAL
Ashland will play host to a 2020 GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal on Tuesday (March 3) at 5:30 p.m. against Saginaw Valley State (12-16, 8-12).
The Eagles are 30-14 all-time in the GLIAC Tournament, having won six tourney championships, all since 2012, and four titles in a row.
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