No. 2 AU Women Alone In First Place in Great Midwest After Topping KWC At Home

It was a struggle, but, ultimately, it was a win.
 
On Saturday (Dec. 17) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium, the No. 2-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team moved into first place alone in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference after a 68-47 win over Kentucky Wesleyan.
 
"It was a really good team win," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens. "KWC, they are a really good team. On a night where we didn't shoot the ball particularly well, we locked it down defensively.
 
"I was really proud of our team. It's not going to be pretty every game."
 
The Eagles, one of nine undefeated NCAA Division II women's basketball teams through Thursday (Dec. 15), have won their first 11 games of the 2022-23 season, and are 5-0 in the conference. The Panthers are 7-4, 4-1, and had their five-game winning streak snapped.
 
"This team has really big goals. We want to be able to compete for championships," said Pickens. "It's going to put us in a good position to be in the driver's seat the rest of the way."
 
The Eagles improve to 50-3 all-time as the No. 2-ranked team in the country.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• Ashland jumped out to a 7-2 lead early, but KWC countered with the next six points. The Eagles led 11-8 at the first media timeout, and the AU defense was the catalyst for a 18-14 advantage after the first 10 minutes.
• The Eagles began to pull away from the Panthers in the second quarter, taking a 32-21 lead inside of the four-minute mark. Ashland extended the lead further, and by halftime, it was 38-24, thanks to 10 Kentucky Wesleyan turnovers which were turned into 14 Eagle points, and KWC not scoring for almost the last four minutes of the half.
• Kentucky Wesleyan's scoreless streak extended into the second half and was more than five minutes long in all. Ashland kept KWC at arm's length, and maintained a 13-point lead at 45-32 at the third-quarter media timeout, then four quick Eagle points out of the stoppage gave them their best lead at that point at 17 points.
• With 10 minutes to play, Ashland's advantage was 51-38, as the Eagles kept the Panthers to 4-for-16 from the field. Back-to-back baskets from junior guard Macy Spielman increased the AU lead to 55-38 early in the fourth quarter. A 3-point field goal from sophomore forward Zoe Miller made it a 20-point bulge, and the Eagles went on to victory from there.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Senior forward Annie Roshak, one of the top shooters in the country by percentage coming in, scored a game-high 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. At 1,480 career points, Roshak moves into ninth place on the program's all-time scoring list.
• Spielman came off the bench for 11 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals in 22 minutes.
• "She just brought a really good pop to the team today," said Pickens, who added it was Spielman's best game of the season.
• The Eagles made 16-of-18 from the charity stripe, outrebounded KWC by 10 (41-31), and turned 20 Panther turnovers into 26 points. AU's defense also kept Kentucky Wesleyan to 33.3 percent from the field and 2-of-15 from beyond the arc.
• Ashland has won its last 22 games in the month of December.
• The Eagles have won at least 11 games every season so far this century.

 
UP NEXT
The Eagle women will play one more home game before Christmas on Monday (Dec. 19) at 1 p.m. vs. Trevecca Nazarene (6-5, 3-2).