It's hard to expect a college basketball game to have a playoff atmosphere on Jan. 8, but that's what fans at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium got on Saturday afternoon.
Kentucky Wesleyan's women's basketball team went toe-to-toe with No. 8-ranked Ashland University Saturday in the first half of a game for first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, but the Eagles pulled away in the second half for a 74-66 victory.
"We beat a really good team today," said Ashland head coach
Kari Pickens. "We do have to figure out how to finish games better. We have to continue and learn to grow from that. We found a way to win against a pretty good team, and I'm proud of that."
Ashland maintains first place alone in the league at 12-1 overall and 7-0 in the conference following its ninth consecutive victory, while the Panthers are 9-5, 6-2.
WHAT HAPPENED
- The two teams traded baskets early, then on consecutive possessions, senior guard Erin Daniels hit a 3-point field goal to put AU up 9-8, then drew a charge. The lead changed hands eight times and there were four ties in the first 10 minutes, and the end of the first period saw the scoreboard knotted at 18.
- Sophomore guard Sydney Jacobsen hit back-to-back triples early in the second quarter to put the Eagles ahead 26-22, but there was no more space between the two teams until another Daniels trey put Ashland on top 38-32.
- By the break, the Eagles led by that six-point margin, and they had nine assists on 14 made baskets (53.8 field-goal percentage).
- Ashland continued to assert itself to start the third quarter, extending its advantage to 44-32 thanks to a 14-0 run. That run eventually ended at 21-0, giving the Eagles a 51-32 advantage.
- "When we switched to our zone (defense) in the third quarter, we really did a lot of good things," Pickens said.
- By the end of the third, Ashland led 63-41, and while the Panthers went on a 17-0 run to close the gap to 71-66 in the final minute, Jacobsen made two key free throws to get the lead back to seven points, then Daniels made 1-of-2 for the final margin of victory.
THE WRAP-UP
- Senior forward Karlee Pireu paced all scorers with 21 points, and moved into 10th place on AU's all-time scoring list with 1,371 career points.
- "She's really, really, really coming along," said Pickens. "I'm really proud of her defensive rebounding effort. She's worked for every single second of it. She's one of the hardest workers that's ever come through this program."
- Said Pireu, "I feel I am 100-percent back and healthy, which is allowing me to take over in the areas I know helps this team."
- Junior forward Annie Roshak (12) and sophomore guard Macy Spielman (11) also reached double-digit scoring, as the Eagles shot 47.2 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from 3-point range and 77.3 percent from the line.
UP NEXT
Ashland will go back on the road on Thursday (Jan. 13) at 5:30 p.m. at Hillsdale (8-5, 5-2).
AU
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