Box Score LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE
No one said that winning when playing your main rival for the 12th time in the last four seasons would be easy.
But win the No. 2-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team did on Sunday (March 8) at Kates Gymnasium, as the Eagles earned an unprecedented fifth consecutive Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament championship following a 61-53 victory over No. 4 Grand Valley State.
"We made big plays when we needed to, both on the offensive and defensive end," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens, who has won 60 of her first 63 games (.952) as Eagles head coach. "They would come and cut it, and we could come down and hit a big shot. When we needed big stops, we got them.
"We played like a team that was on a mission."
The Eagles will enter the 2020 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional tournament at 31-0, while the Lakers will do so at 28-3.
Ashland has won 10 of the 12 meetings with GVSU over the last four seasons, following its 15th consecutive GLIAC Tournament victory overall.
Sunday's win was the first for Ashland when scoring less than 75 points since the 2019 GLIAC Tournament title game at Grand Valley, 65-58 vs. Northern Michigan. The last Eagle win when scoring 61 or fewer points came at Ohio Dominican, 53-50 in overtime, on Feb. 20, 2014.
ASHLAND CREEPING UP ON MORE GLIAC HISTORY
The win on Sunday is the Eagles' seventh all-time GLIAC Tournament championship, as they also won in 2012 and 2013. Only Northern Michigan (eight) has won more, and Ashland has pulled even with Michigan Tech for the second-most victories in the 30 years of the GLIAC Tournament.
TIGHT DEFENSIVE FIRST QUARTER WENT TO THE EAGLES
The Lakers went out to a 4-0 lead, but back-to-back layups from senior forward Sara Loomis got the Eagles on the board and tied the game early. Then, Loomis hit a 3-point field goal inside of the five-minute mark for AU's first lead at 9-6.
Both defenses were the story in the game's first 10 minutes, as Ashland led 16-11 at the end of one. AU made 7-of-20 shots from the field, but scored seven points off six GVSU turnovers.
Junior forward Karlee Pireu and senior guard Jodi Johnson each had five rebounds, as the Eagles had as many offensive rebounds (seven) as the Lakers had defensive.
JOHNSON'S OUTSIDE SHOOTING GUIDES AU TO HALFTIME LEAD
Grand Valley State cut the Ashland lead to 20-19 early before Johnson popped a triple. The Lakers made it a 25-23 game late in the first half, but another Johnson trey was the answer the Eagles needed.
By the break, it was a 28-23 Ashland – the Eagles missed 22 shots from the field and had eight turnovers, while the Lakers missed 18 shots and turned the ball over 10 times.
ASHLAND'S SLIM ADVANTAGE REMAINED THROUGH THREE
Johnson's 3 at the 8:49 mark of the third stanza opened the second-half scoring, but Ashland continued to be unable to pull away from its rival, as the Lakers' deficit was a single point at 33-32. Loomis kept GVSU from taking the lead thanks to a pair of free throws to make it a three-point contest, then a driving layup by senior point guard Renee Stimpert upped the advantage to five at 37-32.
Once again, the Eagles made a play to keep the Lakers from tying or taking the lead, as senior guard/forward Sarah Hart split a pair of charity tosses for a 38-35 AU advantage, then grabbed the ensuing defensive rebound. That ended up being the score at the end of three.
ASHLAND CHIPS AWAY LATE TO PUT TITLE AWAY
The theme of Ashland keeping Grand Valley State from taking a lead continued into the fourth, as, with a 38-37 lead 78 seconds into the final quarter, Stimpert hit two free throws to extend that margin back to three points. With 6:43 to play, sophomore guard Hallie Heidemann's 3 gave Ashland a 45-39 lead.
After the Lakers missed a potential game-tying 3, freshman forward Annie Roshak's layup put AU up by five at 49-44. It was a 53-44 Eagle advantage, then Johnson's layup inside of three minutes put them up by nine again at 55-46. Two Loomis free throws at 2:24 put Ashland up by double figures, and it wouldn't relinquish the lead the rest of the way.
THE SUMMARY
Johnson, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, finished the day with 13 points, 10 rebounds and two steals. Loomis and Stimpert also were named to the All-Tournament Team, as Loomis ended with 23 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots, and Stimpert chipped in with six points, two boards, four assists and five steals. Loomis' totals came while being matched up with the 2019-20 GLIAC Most Valuable Player, GVSU's Cassidy Boensch (eight points, 10 rebounds, six assists, four blocks).
"Win or lose, we didn't know if this was the last game in the Eagle gym," Johnson said, "so let's end it on a good one, and we did that today."
Said Loomis, "It's been really fun. This whole year, this team has been so special. Ending it like that…it's been so fun."
Ashland was 15-of-19 from the free-throw line, including a key 12-of-13 in the fourth quarter alone.
UP NEXT – THE NCAA POSTSEASON
Ashland will find out its opponent and the location of the Midwest Regional on Sunday at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com. The Eagles will play in their 10th NCAA postseason, won the NCAA Division II national championship in both 2013 and 2017, was the national runner-up in both 2012 and 2018, and are 26-7 all-time – that .788 winning percentage is the best in D-II history among programs with at least 30 games played.
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