No. 1 AU Women Win Big At ODU, Move Season Start To 25-0

A shaky second quarter did nothing to slow down the No. 1-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team on Saturday (Feb. 11) afternoon at Ohio Dominican, as the Eagles scored 62 points in the second half and took a 99-57 decision from the Panthers to remain the only undefeated women's hoops team in NCAA Division II.
 
Ashland has its fourth 25-0 start in program history (also 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2019-20), and is 17-0 and in first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Eagles are two games ahead of second-place Kentucky Wesleyan with three to go in the regular season.
 
ODU is 6-17, 3-13.
 
The 25 wins for the Eagles gives the program 10 25-plus-win seasons, all in the last 12 campaigns.
 
In that second half, Ashland made 22-of-31 shots from the field (71.0 percent) and 6-of-13 from 3-point range (46.2 percent), and turned the ball over just twice.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• A quick 8-0 Ashland lead forced an early Panther timeout, then the Eagles extended that lead to 19-0 before ODU got on the board. Through the first 10 minutes of play, Ashland had a 25-7 lead, as AU had eight assists on nine made field goals.
• The Eagles hit a scoring drought in the second quarter, but still sported a 31-15 lead halfway through the period. The Panthers cut their deficit to 13 points at 31-18, then again at 37-24, and by halftime, Ashland went into the locker room up by 11 at 37-26.
• ODU whittled its deficit down by the break thanks to a second stanza in which it made 7-of-10 shots from the field, while AU was 5-for-12.
• The Eagles replicated their start from the first quarter in the third, going on a 12-2 run to move their lead back to 20-plus at 49-28 when ODU called a timeout at the 5:57 mark. Ashland headed into the fourth and final quarter leading 69-42, and didn't look back.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Five Eagles scored in double figures on Saturday, with two players coming off the bench leading the way – sophomore forward Zoe Miller (18 points) and junior guard Savaya Brockington (17 points).
• Senior forward Annie Roshak (13 points), sophomore forward Hayley Smith (12 points) and fifth-year senior Hallie Heidemann (11 points) rounded out AU's double-digit scorers. Heidemann moved into eighth place on Ashland's all-time scoring list with 1,517 career points.
• The Eagles dished out 26 assists and turned the ball over just nine times in the win, and made 62.1 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from 3-point range. The overall field-goal percentage against the Panthers was Ashland's fourth-highest this season, and all of the top four have come on the road.
• ODU was kept to 40.0 percent from the field and 3-of-13 from behind the arc, and the Eagles forced 19 turnovers, turning them into 25 points.
• Saturday marked the second-most points AU has scored in a game in 2022-23, and the 11^th time the Eagles have put in 90 or more in a contest this season.
• Ashland is 20-0 against the Panthers since the start of the 2010-11.

 
UP NEXT
Ashland will conclude road regular-season play on Thursday (Feb. 16) at 5:30 p.m. at Cedarville (7-15, 5-11).