No. 8 AU Women Survive First-Place Showdown At Walsh, 87-84

NORTH CANTON, Ohio – It was a matchup of the top two teams in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference preseason poll, and two of the top teams in the early-season league standings.
 
In the end on Friday (Dec. 31) afternoon, the No. 8-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team prevailed over Walsh, 87-84, on the road to maintain first place alone in the Great Midwest standings.
 
"I'm really excited that we are going to have that opportunity to learn from a win," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens. "I'm proud that we found a way to win. Walsh is a good team. On the road, not having but a day of practice, we found a way to win.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of this team."
 
The Eagles are 11-1 overall and 6-0 in the conference, while the Cavaliers are 8-3, 3-2. Ashland is on an eight-game winning streak going into 2022, while Walsh's three-game winning streak came to an end.

WHAT HAPPENED

• Four straight Walsh points to start the game were followed by a 15-4 Ashland run. At the first-quarter media timeout, the Eagles led 15-8, and by the end of the first 10 minutes, the AU advantage was 26-17.
• In the first period, the Eagles made 9-of-15 shots from the field (6-of-10 from 3-point range), and had eight assists to no turnovers.
• Ashland's lead at the second-quarter media timeout at the 6:21 mark still was nine points at 34-25, and that lead was cut to 34-30 with 4:56 left until halftime. The Eagles countered with back-to-back baskets from junior forward Annie Roshak, but the Cavaliers kept coming.
• At the break, Ashland sported a 44-38 lead, thanks in large part to 64.0-percent shooting from the field and 8-of-14 from downtown. Walsh, however, made 61.6 percent from the floor and had a rebounding advantage of 14-8 in the first 20 minutes.
• Walsh cut its deficit to 48-46 halfway through the third quarter, but senior guard Hallie Heidemann put a stop to two Cavalier possessions by drawing charges. With 3:10 left in the third, Walsh tied the game at 49, then took a 51-49 lead at the 2:32 mark.
• It was at that point that senior forward Karlee Pireu took over, making back-to-back baskets to give the Eagles the lead again. Then, with the score tied at 53, sophomore guard Sydney Jacobsen's triple started a 5-0 spurt which gave AU a 58-53 lead going into the final stanza.
• The overall Eagle run moved to 9-0 to start the fourth quarter, lifting the Eagles to a 62-53 advantage. Ashland had a pair of nine-point leads thereafter, then senior guard Erin Daniels' trey made it a 74-64 Eagles lead, then sophomore guard Macy Spielman's old-fashioned 3 put AU up by 11 at 80-69.
• Walsh got the game back to 84-79 in the final minute, but Pireu made 1-of-2 charity tosses, and after a Cavalier layup, Roshak's layup put AU back up by six at 87-81. A Walsh triple tightened the game again, and the Eagles survived a last-second shot at the buzzer.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Five Eagles scored in double figures, paced by Pireu's 26 points on 12-of-17 shooting.
• "It was a great team win," Pireu said. "We came into this game focusing on playing Ashland women's basketball for 40 minutes. I thought we did that."
• Spielman had 17 points, Roshak 15, Heidemann 12 to go with seven assists, and Daniels 11 to go with five helpers.
• "KP came up huge, and then Erin is just so steady. She knocks down shots, she makes the right pass, she makes the right decision.
• Heidemann is tied with Lisa Graue for 24^th place on AU's all-time scoring list with 1,048 career points.
• The Eagles shot 60.3 percent from the field, and had 21 assists on 35 made field goals.
• "It was a total team effort," Pickens said. "We knocked down some big shots."
• Ashland held on despite allowing 30 points and 15 rebounds to Sha Carter, and 28 points to Mayci Sales. Walsh hit 58.7 percent from the field.
• Pickens coached in her 100^th career game as a head coach on Friday, and is 87-13. The three other Ashland women's head coaches to get to at least 100 games were Robyn Fralick (98-2), Sue Ramsey (56-44) and Karen Linder (50-50).

 
UP NEXT
Ashland's women will begin 2022 with a Great Midwest game at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium on Thursday (Jan. 6) at 5:30 p.m. vs. Trevecca Nazarene.