WESTVILLE, Ind. –
Annie Roshak had seen enough.
Ashland University's sophomore forward, already the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's scoring leader in 2020-21, did nothing to hurt that standing on Thursday (March 4) night, as she scored 20 of her game-high 24 points in the fourth quarter of the Eagles' 67-58 win over Northwood in a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal at Purdue Northwest.
"I was so proud of her effort. There was definitely a fire in her eyes," said Ashland head coach
Kari Pickens. "It's what she's capable of. She just knew what her team needed at the time. We changed up our offense a little bit in the second half to get a little more space, and I think that gave her a few more opportunities to create.
"But she took full advantage of it, and I'm really proud of her."
The Eagles (13-7), winners of five in a row and 17 in a row in the GLIAC Tournament, will take on Parkside (11-9) on Friday (March 5) at 7 p.m. Central/8 p.m. East in a GLIAC Tournament semifinal. The Rangers defeated Grand Valley State in overtime, 77-72, earlier on Thursday.
Five games ago, Ashland was potentially looking at a .500 record. Now, the team is two wins away from a sixth consecutive GLIAC Tournament championship.
"We're a young team," Pickens said. "It's taken some time to figure out our identity now, and what this team is going to look like. It's been a lot of fun."
"I think we're just really starting to put it all together," Roshak said. "I think we would string five-minute or 10-minute spurts together in different games, but never the whole thing. We're getting closer and closer to that."
The two teams struggled to find offensive footing early on, with the Timberwolves (11-8) leading 6-2 five minutes into the contest. Down 8-2, the Eagles received back-to-back 3-pointers from freshman guard
Sydney Jacobsen and junior guard
Hallie Heidemann to tie the game at 8.
Scoring was still in short supply at the end of the first quarter, and the score was knotted at 11.
Ashland, however, did its best to change that to start the second period, with five points in the first minute. By the second-quarter media timeout at 4:55, the Eagles led 23-20, and scored more points (12) than in the entire first stanza.
At the half, the Eagles had five players with two fouls each, including three starters, and a 28-21 lead was whittled down to 30-29. In a matchup of the top two 3-point-shooting teams in the GLIAC, Ashland (No. 1) was 5-of-17 beyond the arc at the break, but Northwood (No. 2) was 0-for-5.
The Eagles dominated the early part of the third quarter, scoring the first 10 points to take a 40-29 lead. That advantage was 43-31 late in the third, but again, the Timberwolves kept coming, and by the end of the quarter, that AU lead was down to seven at 45-38 – despite Northwood missing 19 of 23 shots and both free throws in the period.
Back-to-back baskets from Roshak put the Eagles up by 11 at 49-38, yet Northwood came back once again, going on a 10-2 run and making it a 51-48 contest with 6:43 to play. Things heated up in the first half of the fourth, with AU making its first six shots, and Northwood seven of its first nine.
Roshak decided to take over the game in the final 10 minutes. She had four points through three quarters, but scored Ashland's first 20 points in the final frame.
Four Eagles scored in double figures – Roshak, Heidemann (14 points), Jacobsen (12) and senior forward
Karlee Pireu (12).
Kenzie Seeley paced the Timberwolves with 15 points.
AU
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