The last Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament game at Kates Gymnasium for Ashland University's women's basketball team was a memorable one in a few ways.
On Tuesday (March 2) night at home, the Eagles won their fourth consecutive game, 81-41, over Purdue Northwest in a first-round tournament contest. They did so on the backs of a defense which put the clamps on the Pride in record-setting fashion – and a long-range shooting performance by sophomore guard
Sam Chable that was the same.
The Eagles kept the Pride to 23.1-percent shooting for the game – the best defensive mark in a GLIAC Tournament game in program history.
Then there was Chable, who set a new GLIAC Tournament record for 3-point field goals by any player on any team with nine, and tied the program record originally set by
Taylor Woods in 2013. Chable finished with a game-high 29 points – nearly tripling her previous career high of 10 points just 10 days earlier.
"It was a great team win, on both ends of the court, which is outstanding," said Ashland head coach
Kari Pickens. "To hold a team to below 25 percent from the field, and then what we were able to do at the other end…today, we put a complete Ashland women's basketball game together.
"How can you not like when someone goes 9-of-15 from 3? She just played with confidence. That's what I liked the most," Pickens said of Chable. "What happened tonight was not a fluke. What happened tonight the result of years of hard work."
The Eagles are 6-2 in the last eight games – all with Chable starting.
"It's just great to come out here and play one more game (this season) in Ashland," Chable said. "It's just fun, and we showed tonight how much fun we have together. We just played team basketball."
Ashland (12-7) will go to Westville, Ind., for the remainder of the 2021 GLIAC Tournament, continuing with a quarterfinal on Thursday (March 4) at 8 p.m. Central/9 p.m. East against Northwood (11-7).
Back-to-back 3s from freshman guard
Sydney Jacobsen and Chable put AU ahead 6-0 at the jump, and another Chable triple extended the Eagles' early advantage to 9-2. The long-range barrage continued for Ashland, as each of its first seven field-goal attempts prior to the first media timeout were from downtown, leading to a 12-7 gap.
By the end of the first quarter, Ashland led, 17-11, thanks to five 3-pointers and a defensive effort which kept Purdue Northwest to 4-of-17 shooting overall and 2-of-12 from beyond the arc.
The Eagles kept hitting from downtown in the second quarter, and Chable had a career-high 15 points in the game's first 15 minutes. The last of her five 3s to that point put Ashland ahead, 29-16.
Halftime saw the Eagles take a 36-21 lead into the locker room, and Chable had 18 points on six treys. The AU defense was on full display the entire half, keeping the Pride to 22.2-percent shooting from the field and 23.5-percent shooting from 3.
Purdue Northwest was kept off the scoreboard for the first 4:13 of the second half, as Ashland extended its lead to 40-21. The Eagles led 48-22 late in the third, and after three, they were up 52-25 – and the Pride's field-goal percentage had dipped to 17.1.
Junior guard
Erin Daniels came off the bench and scored 11 points to join Chable in double-digit scoring in the win.
"Erin, she's a junior. She's ready for her opportunity," said Pickens. "Tonight, she took open shots when she was ready. She's put in the work. She's ready for this GLIAC Tournament, and I'm excited for big things for her this tournament."
AU
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