No. 2 Eagle Women Run Away From Storm On The Road

On Wednesday (Jan. 26) night at Lake Erie, the No. 2-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team defeated the Storm, 94-64, to run its winning streak to 13 games.
 
The Eagles are 16-1 overall and 11-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, while Lake Erie is 1-19, 0-14 following its 17^th defeat in a row. Ashland remains in first place in the league, two full games ahead of second-place Walsh.
 
The Eagles scored a season-high in points on Wednesday night, and their most in a single game since March 7, 2020 vs. Parkside (95).
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• At the first-quarter media timeout with 4:57 to go, Ashland led by a 6-0 count. A fast-break layup by junior forward Annie Roshak put the Eagles ahead 17-10 after the first period. Lake Erie turned the ball over eight times in the first 10 minutes.
• By the second-quarter media stoppage, Ashland had moved out to a 31-18 lead. Going into the locker room at halftime, the Eagles were up 45-25, and turned 15 Storm turnovers into 14 points.
• In the first 20 minutes, three AU players scored in double figures – senior forward Karlee Pireu (13 points), sophomore guard Macy Spielman (11) and Roshak (10).
• The third quarter saw the Eagles extend their advantage to 26 points at 60-34, and they went into the final period up 20 at 66-46.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Pireu scored a game-high 20 points, and, with 1,415 in her career, passed her head coach, Kari Pickens, into ninth place on AU's all-time scoring list. Pireu also added a game-high nine rebounds in the victory.
• Spielman finished with 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 7-of-7 from the free-throw line. Roshak had 16 points, and with 1,093 in her career, moved into 22^nd place on the Eagles' all-time list.
• Freshman forward Hayley Smith (13 points), freshman guard Morgan Yoder (10) and senior guard Erin Daniels (10) rounded out six Eagles in double-digit scoring on Wednesday night.
• Ashland, the No. 2 team in NCAA Division II in field-goal percentage (48.4) coming into the game, did nothing to hurt that standard, making 51.6 percent against the Storm. The Eagles also were 26-of-34 from the foul line and turned the ball over just seven times.
• Defensively, AU forced 27 turnovers, and turned that into 27 points.

 
UP NEXT
Ashland will stay on the road for another Great Midwest game on Saturday (Jan. 29) at 2 p.m. at Ursuline (8-10, 5-8).