TIFFIN, Ohio – Ashland University senior guard
Hallie Heidemann waited almost until the very last second to score her 1,000
th career point.
On Saturday (Dec. 18) afternoon at the Old Fort Bank Court at the Gillmor Student Center, Heidemann's free throw in the waning seconds put her in the Eagle 1,000-point club, and punctuated a 68-61 victory for the No. 9-ranked Eagles at Tiffin.
Ashland is 8-1 overall and continues to lead the Great Midwest Athletic Conference at 4-0, while the Dragons are 5-6, 2-3.
"We won, and I'm really proud that we came on the road…and we still found a way to win," said Ashland head coach
Kari Pickens. "It's the course of a season. There are highs and lows. It's just an opportunity to learn and get better from it."
Heidemann needed 18 points on Saturday to get to 1,000, and that's exactly what she got. She is the program's 26
th all-time 1,000-point scorer.
"It's really special. It's an honor," Heidemann said. "And I think it's a testament to this program, and all of the great players I've played with. There's no way I would be at this milestone without them and without these coaches."
Said Pickens, "I'm really, really happy for Hallie. She knocked down a big free throw. She played really well, and I'm happy for her."
Ashland has beaten Tiffin 10 straight times, and is 20-2 all-time against the Dragons with both teams as NCAA Division II institutions.
WHAT HAPPENED
- The Dragons ran out to an early 8-2 lead, but freshman forward Hayley Smith stopped that with a top-of-the-arc 3-point field goal. That basket started a 5-0 Eagles spurt, then senior forward Karlee Pireu's layup outside of the five-minute mark of the first quarter knotted the game at 9.
- By the end of the first quarter, back-to-back layups from sophomore guard Macy Spielman helped AU to a 17-15 lead. A desperation shot clock-beating triple from Heidemann made it a 20-15 advantage early in the second quarter, but Tiffin rallied to re-knot the game at 20-all.
- Ashland's defense was stronger in the second period, allowing Tiffin just nine points, but the lead was only 28-24 at halftime. The Eagles scored nine points on seven Dragons turnovers in the first 20 minutes, and kept Tiffin to 40.7-percent shooting from the field.
- The Eagles were ignited early in the third quarter by a pair of free throws from junior forward Annie Roshak, then an old-fashioned 3-point play from Spielman, which put AU ahead 35-27. Tiffin, however, wouldn't go away quietly, scoring the next six points to cut its deficit to two points.
- Heidemann kept bailing out the Eagles late in the shot clock, putting up another triple to move them to a 40-33 lead out of the second third-quarter media timeout. The back-and-forth play continued, and by the end of the third, thanks to yet another Heidemann trey, Ashland led 45-43.
- Three consecutive triples from Roshak and senior guard Erin Daniels (two) gave the Eagles a 56-47 lead with 5:49 to play, Ashland went on to victory from there, not allowing the Dragons to tie or take the lead late.
- Heidemann paced AU with her 18 points and seven rebounds, and Spielman added 17 points. Roshak had 11 points, and with 981 in her career, is 19 away from scoring 1,000 herself. Smith made it four AU players in double-digit scoring with 10 points.
- "This team, we're trying to play to Ashland women's basketball (standards), to the best of our ability every time," Heidemann said. "It was a lack of energy and intensity coming out of the gate."
- Daniels had eight points off the bench, none bigger than the two fourth-quarter treys.
- "My team's confident in me, so I am confident in myself," Daniels said. "The coaches want me to let it fly. That kind of gave us some momentum, and the girls just took it from there. It was fun, it was so fun."
UP NEXT
Ashland's women will finish the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule on Monday (Dec. 20) at 1 p.m. vs. Le Moyne (4-1) at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasiun.
AU
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