No. 2 Eagle Women Survive OT Scare From Dragons, 68-59

It's been a long time since Ashland University women's basketball fans saw what they saw on Saturday (Feb. 5) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
 
The No. 2-ranked Eagles won a 68-59 overtime decision over Tiffin on Saturday, to improve to 20-1 overall and 15-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, and extend their winning streak to 17 games. That win also marked AU's first home OT victory since the 2008-09 season.
 
"It was a hard-fought win," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens. "Tiffin is a really good team. I was really proud of the girls to find a way to win down the stretch.
 
"The one thing that I thought we needed to clean up was our defensive rebounding. Otherwise, I thought we played a really, really good game."
 
The Dragons are 9-10, 6-7, after an 11^th consecutive loss to AU.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• Tiffin scored the game's first four points, and led 7-2 in the early going. A low-scoring first quarter saw the Dragons lead, 13-10, as the Eagles made just 4-of-15 from the field and missed on all eight 3-point attempts.
• Once again, Tiffin scored the first four points of the stanza to go up 17-10, then led 20-12 before the Eagles made their first triple of the game, courtesy of senior guard Hallie Heidemann. That started an Ashland run of the 11-2 variety to knot the score at 23-23.
• By halftime, the Dragons' lead had been cut to one point at 28-27. Ashland's shooting touch came back in the second period, making 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-7 from downtown. In the first 20 minutes, AU turned six Tiffin turnovers into 10 points.
• To start the third quarter, Tiffin did it again – scoring the first four points. Heidemann made two triples early in the third to get the game back to a point at 34-33, then senior forward Karlee Pireu, who set a new program standard for games played with 139 on Saturday, tied the game at 34 by making 1-of-2 at the foul line.
• Outside of the five-minute mark, Heidemann's fifth trey of the game put Ashland ahead for the first time at 37-34. By the time the Eagles led 41-34, the AU run was 11-0.
• At the end of the third, Ashland led 45-38, thanks in large part to keeping the Dragons to 4-of-12 shooting in the period.
• Tiffin cut its fourth-quarter deficit down to three points at 47-44, but junior forward Annie Roshak got momentum back with a floating jumper in the lane. Freshman guard Morgan Yoder's driving layup put AU back up by seven at 51-44.
• The Dragons would not go away, getting the game back to three points at 51-48, but Pireu's fast-break layup inside of 90 seconds to go got the lead back to five points.
• Two Tiffin free throws made it a three-point game again at 53-50 heading into the final minute of regulation, then an Eagle turnover with 38.5 seconds left put the ball back in the Dragons' hands. A Tiffin triple tied the game with 27.7 seconds left, then three consecutive Dragon fouls set up the last possession with 16.4 ticks to go. The last shot was missed, setting up overtime.
• In the extra period, Roshak's triple put Ashland back on top at 56-55, and Heidemann's jumper made it a 58-55 contest. Sophomore guard Macy Spielman made a layup to lift the Eagles to a five-point lead at 60-55, then Pireu's layup finally put the nail in Tiffin's coffin.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Heidemann paced AU's offense with 19 points, hitting 5-of-10 from beyond the arc, and adding five rebounds, three assists and five steals.
• "This team is so deep, and we're all capable of kick-starting it, honestly," said Heidemann. "I personally let the game come to me, and take the shots that are in rhythm."
• "Hallie came up huge and hit some big ones for us," Pickens said.
• Pireu was next with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. She was 5-of-6 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line.
• "We have a really deep team, and we have great guards and great posts," Pireu said. "It's within the flow of our offense (the assists)."
• Roshak rounded out three Eagles in double-digit scoring with 13 points, to go with a team-high seven rebounds.
• Of having to go to OT to win at home, Pireu said, "It's a great learning opportunity for us. We know that we're going to get everybody's best game this year, and I think we got that from Tiffin today. It definitely felt like a tournament-like atmosphere, and that's exciting."
• Ashland kept Tiffin to 30.3-percent shooting from the floor, while scoring 20 points off 13 Dragon turnovers.
• Ashland's 20^th win of the season gives the program 13 such campaigns, along with 975-76, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2014-15 to 2019-20.
• The victory also was the Eagles' 250^th all-time as a ranked team (250-16, .940).

 
UP NEXT
Ashland goes back on the road on Thursday (Feb. 10) to take on Trevecca Nazarene (3-16, 2-11) at 6:30 p.m.