No. 1 Eagle Women Move To 4-0 After Taking Close Road Game Against Huskies

Ashland University head women's basketball coach Kari Pickens purposefully schedules non-conference games that will test her Eagles.
 
On Sunday (Nov. 19) afternoon at Michigan Tech, the No. 1-ranked Eagles got, and won, that test, taking a 74-67 decision from the Huskies to improve to 4-0 on the 2023-24 season – and giving Ashland a 41^st consecutive victory overall.
 
Michigan Tech is 3-1 following an 11^th loss in the last 12 matchups with Ashland.
 
Sunday's victory gives Ashland 300 all-time as a ranked team in the NCAA Division II coaches poll (300-18 record).
 
The Eagles led 10-4 early, but the Huskies kept AU in their sights – and the end of the first quarter saw Ashland lead 17-14. Michigan Tech missed all six of its 3-point attempts in the game's first 10 minutes, and the Eagles turned the ball over just twice.
 
Michigan Tech scored the first five points of the second quarter to take a 19-17 lead, but eight straight Ashland points put it up once again at 25-19. By halftime, the Eagle advantage was 35-28, as they didn't cough up the ball once in the second stanza.
 
In the first 20 minutes, fifth-year forward Annie Roshak had 12 points (leading all players in the game) and four rebounds.
 
Ashland took a double-digit lead for the first time at 43-33 on a 3-point field goal from senior guard Savaya Brockington, but Tech kept chipping away at its deficit to the point where it was two points at 49-47 inside of the four-minute mark of the third quarter.
 
The third period ended with the two teams trading layups over and over, and the score going into the fourth frame was 54-53 in the Eagles' favor.
 
Ashland began to pull away to start the fourth quarter, scoring a quick seven points for an eight-point lead. The Huskies, however, weren't going to go away, and got the game to a two-point spread at 67-65 with 2:33 left in regulation.
 
Roshak made a pair of free throws outside of the two-minute mark to allow AU go up by four points, but Tech did the same with 1:40 left to put it back to a two-point game. Miller also hit two charity tosses to get the lead back to four points, then junior guard Morgan Yoder made a freebie and Roshak hit two more in the last 30 seconds to put the game away.
 
POST-GAME NUGGETS

• Roshak finished with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 from the foul line, while adding six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and four steals.
• Miller came off the bench for 19 points (7-of-11 from the field), four rebounds and four steals, and senior guard Macy Spielman added 11 points.
• The Eagles turned the ball over a season-low six times, and forced 17 Tech miscues. Ashland also made 13-of-16 from the free-throw line (81.3 percent).
• Ashland is 118-3 all-time as the No. 1-ranked team in Division II.

 
UP NEXT
The last game prior to Thanksgiving on Tuesday (Nov. 21) at 3 p.m. at Northern Michigan (4-0).