Playing a second consecutive game against Findlay, the No. 5-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team topped the Oilers in a second straight close matchup, 74-68.
The Eagles move to 25-2 overall and 20-1 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Great Midwest is using a point rating system to determine league tournament seeds since not every team in the conference played all of its games this season, instead of winning percentage, so those seeds will be determined following all games being played on Saturday (Feb. 26).
"I'm really proud of our team's perseverence," said Ashland head coach
Kari Pickens. "I told them I don't quite know how we won…but it took a lot of guts to be able to find a way down the stretch. We knocked down some big free throws, and we needed to."
Findlay is 13-14, 11-10.
This was the second consecutive day Ashland and Findlay played each other, as the Eagles topped the Oilers, 67-60, on Wednesday (Feb. 23) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
WHAT HAPPENED
- The defense which showed out in the first quarters of Wednesday's game did so again at the start of Thursday's contest, as Ashland kept Findlay off the scoreboard for the first 7:14 of the game. In the meantime, the Eagles ran off the game's first 15 points, and each of their first six field goals were assisted.
- Findlay outscored Ashland 9-2 for the remainder of the opening quarter, leaving the AU lead at 17-9.
- The Oilers cut their deficit to 20-16 early in the second quarter, which forced an Ashland timeout. Findlay made it a 20-18 game, but back-to-back triples from senior guard Erin Daniels and sophomore guard Sydney Jacobsen pushed the AU lead back to eight points at 26-18.
- Ashland continued to keep Findlay at arm's length, and at halftime, it was a 35-26 advantage. The Eagles scored 15 points off the Oilers' 15 turnovers in the first half, and assisted on 12 of their 13 made field goals, while Daniels made all four of her 3-point attempts in the game's first 20 minutes.
- At the third-quarter media timeout, the Eagle lead had been trimmed to five points at 42-37. It was a 45-43 score before Ashland finished the stanza on a 7-1 run to go into the fourth quarter up 52-44.
- Both teams traded points to start the final period, with the Eagles going back and forth between a six- and eight-point lead. Findlay worked its deficit down to 56-52, but freshman guard Morgan Yoder's trey pushed the AU lead to seven.
- Findlay kept coming, as it did on Wednesday, and the distance between the two teams was just three points at 59-56 halfway through the fourth. The Eagles kept pushing back, as a layup by senior forward Karlee Pireu made it a five-point game, then a jump shot from senior guard Hallie Heidemann made the score 63-56.
- Following three Oiler free throws and a putback, Ashland's lead was down to two points at 63-61 heading into the final minute. Heidemann, however, put a dagger in with a 3 to once again push the lead back to five points.
- An Oiler layup made it 66-63, and the Eagles needed one more basket or free throw for a two-possession lead with 35 seconds left. Junior forward Annie Roshak's two charity tosses accomplished that.
- Findlay still kept coming, and a triple with 30 ticks to go kept the Oilers' hopes alive at 68-66. Pireu stepped to the line and made both to make it 70-66, then Roshak finished the victory off with four more freebies.
THE WRAP-UP
- Both Heidemann and Daniels scored 16 points, Daniels doing so in 24 minutes off the bench.
- "It takes us back to last year, how we had to get our minds and bodies right," Daniels said of playing the same team on back-to-back days. "Findlay's a really good team, and we had to come out and do what we needed to do to get the win. I wasn't thinking and I was just shooting. When I'm just playing the game, things go well."
- Pireu scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the victory.
- Senior forward Kayla Sanders came in for six minutes in the second half and gave the Eagles key minutes off the bench.
- "I'm really proud of Kayla," Pickens said. "We put her in there, and our team went on a bit of a run when she was on the court. I'm thankful that we have that depth."
- Ashland made 15 of 16 from the free-throw line, and scored 23 points off 19 Oiler turnovers.
UP NEXT
Ashland's women will conclude the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 26) at 1 p.m. against Hillsdale (13-13, 10-10) on Senior Day at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
"I felt like it was a tournament today," Pickens said of playing back-to-back days and the second game of three in four days. "My hope is that it has prepared us for what we need to do come tournament time."
AU
WBKB/DS
