No. 1 Eagles Start League Tournament With Home Win Over Arrows

The second season for the No. 1-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team began on Tuesday (Feb. 28) night, as the Eagles toppled Ursuline, 69-52, in a 2023 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
 
Ashland is 29-0, and the Arrows' season ends at 13-16. Tuesday's win gives Ashland back-to-back 29-win seasons, and the eighth season of at least 29 victories, all since 2011-12.
 
Ursuline scored the first bucket of the game, then Ashland ran off six points in a row. The first-quarter scoring pace was a slow one, but the Eagles ended it with a 21-9 lead. Sophomore point guard Morgan Yoder was the catalyst in the first 10 points, scoring nine points on three 3-point field goals.
 
Ashland extended its lead to 15 points at 30-15, with the Eagles hitting 5-of-10 triples in the game's first 13½ minutes. The advantage was 20-plus at 42-21 late in the first half, and at the break, it was 46-23.
 
In those first 20 minutes, Ashland had eight different scorers, seven players with assists, and seven with a rebound. Yoder led the way with a dozen points, as the Eagles had 12 assists to just five turnovers, and made 53.6 percent from the field, 50.0 percent from beyond the arc and 75.0 percent from the free-throw line.
 
Ursuline turned the ball over 10 times in the first half, and Ashland turned those into 16 points.
 
At the third-quarter media timeout, the Eagles sported a 53-30 lead. Ashland went into the fourth period leading 57-33, and went on to win from there.
 
NOTABLES

• Yoder finished with a team-high 15 points, hitting 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and adding four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Sophomore forward Hayley Smith, senior forward Annie Roshak and junior guard Macy Spielman each added 10 points in the victory.
• The Eagles forced 18 turnovers and scored 21 points off of them, and kept the Arrows to 36.2 percent from the field and 1-of-12 from 3-point range. Ashland also had 19 assists on 25 made field goals.
• Ashland is 6-0 all-time against Ursuline.
• The Eagles are 106-3 all-time as the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II, and 288-15 all-time as a ranked team in D-II.

 
QUOTABLES

• "I'm glad we won, and we get to advance to the next round," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens. "It was a great first half, and I thought we did a lot of good things. There's not much more positive to talk about after that."
• "I know that this team is significantly better than how we played today."

 
UP NEXT
Ashland's women will play host to the 2023 Great Midwest Tournament Final Four on Friday and Saturday (March 3-4), and their Friday semifinal opponent will be Malone (21-8) at 5 p.m. In the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m., Kentucky Wesleyan (23-5) will take on Trevecca Nazarene (20-8).