A game-ending 21-7 run propelled the No. 1-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team to a 71-60 win at Northern Michigan on Tuesday (Nov. 21) afternoon.
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The Eagles improve to 5-0 on the season, and have won 42 games in a row – tied with North Dakota State and Drury for the fourth-longest winning streak in NCAA Division II women's basketball history (Ashland has the record at 73 in a row).
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Northern Michigan is 4-1.
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The Wildcats scored the game's first five points, then Ashland went on a 10-2 run to take a three-point lead. The Wildcats had a 12-10 lead after the first 10 minutes, then extended that advantage to 26-17.
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Another Eagle run, this time 12-2, allowed them to go into halftime with a one-point lead at 29-28. Freshman guard
Lexi Howe came off the bench to pace AU with 11 points in 10 first-half minutes.
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Junior forward
Zoe Miller broke a 36-all tie with a 3-point field goal inside of the five-minute mark of the third quarter, but the Wildcats came back with a triple of their own for a 39-39 score. Trailing 41-39, yet another Eagle run – 7-0 – put them up by five late in the third.
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Leading 46-42 going into the final stanza, Ashland fell behind 53-50 inside of seven minutes to go in regulation. A jumper from senior guard
Macy Spielman tied the game at 54, then Miller's trey put AU on top 57-54 halfway through the fourth.
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A fourth Miller three finished a 10-1 Ashland run, gave the Eagles a 60-54 lead, and forced a Wildcat timeout. Junior guard
Morgan Yoder's triple, AU's 11
th of the game, put the team ahead 65-56 with 2:45 to play.
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POST-GAME NUGGETS
- Miller scored a team-high 22 points in 23 minutes off the bench (15 of those points in the second half), while Howe added career highs in points (11) and rebounds (seven, tied) in 18 minutes off the pine.
- After making 3-of-14 from the field in the first quarter, Ashland hit 25-of-43 (58.1 percent) in the final three quarters. The Eagles also made 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from beyond the arc.
- Northern Michigan turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 23 AU points.
- The Eagles have won 14 of the last 15 meetings with the Wildcats.
- Ashland is 43-1 in its last 44 November games, going back to the start of the 2015-16 season.
- Tuesday's win was the Eagles' 119th as the No. 1 team in the country (119-3), and 301st as a ranked team (301-18).
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UP NEXT
Ashland's next game will be Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. against Lake Erie (1-1) at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
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