No. 1 Eagles Top Trojans For Third Time, Set Up Regional Final Vs. Lakers

Ashland University head women's basketball coach Kari Pickens speaks often on how hard it is to win games.
 
Her No. 1-ranked Eagles are 33-0, but it hasn't always been easy – especially of late. On Saturday (March 11) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium, Ashland defeated Trevecca Nazarene, 73-49, for the third time this season in a 2023 NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Tournament semifinal.
 
After trailing 15-8 after the first quarter, Ashland out-scored the Trojans 65-34 in the final three quarters.
 
The Eagles' 33-win season to date is the program's fifth such campaign, all since 2011-12.
 
Trevecca's season ends at 22-10.
 
The early score was 8-all at the first-quarter media timeout, following four lead changes in the first 5:26. The Trojans scored the period's last seven points, and took a 15-8 lead into stanza No. 2 – thanks to a 14-7 rebounding advantage and keeping the Eagles to 4-of-13 from the field.
 
To begin the second quarter, Ashland was looking for someone to shoot the basketball. The bell was answered twice by junior guard Savaya Brockington with back-to-back 3-point field goals, and then senior forward Annie Roshak with a triple – resulting in a 9-3 spurt to get within a point at 18-17.
 
Fifth-year guard Hallie Heidemann's straight-up triple knotted the game at 22, and when another fifth-year guard Maddie Maloney, made a corner trey at the end of the first half, that gave Ashland a 27-24 lead.
 
The key for the Eagles in the game's first 20 minutes was a defense which kept the Trojans to 28.1-percent shooting from the field.
 
Maloney's second triple of the game put AU ahead 32-25 three minutes into the third quarter, then Heidemann's second, third and fourth 3s made it a 41-30 Eagle advantage. Once Brockington made her third triple of the contest, Ashland's lead was a game-best 16 points at 48-32.
 
The Eagles took a 50-35 lead into the final quarter, and went on to victory from there.
 
NOTABLES

• Heidemann was the catalyst on Saturday, finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists. She was 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
• Roshak followed with 15 points and seven rebounds, sophomore forward Zoe Miller brought 14 points in 19 minutes off the bench, and Brockington finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
• The Eagles kept the Trojans to 32.2 percent from the field and 26.9 percent from beyond the arc.
• Saturday night's win was Heidemann's 100^th as a starter at Ashland (100-12).
• Ashland is 110-3 all-time as the top-ranked team in Division II, and 292-18 all-time as a ranked team in D-II.

 
QUOTABLES

• "I thought the last three quarters of basketball were the best we played in a while," said Pickens. "We executed the scout really well. Defensively, we did some really good things, and offensively, we were confident.
• "Once we got through that first quarter, we settled in to what we needed to do," Pickens said.
• "At that point in the game, I could feel the momentum shifting," Heidemann said of the third quarter. "I just needed to stay shot ready."
• "Hallie has really embodied everything this program is about, and I was proud of her tonight," said Pickens. "She played fearlessly."

 
UP NEXT
Ashland will play host to the Midwest Regional championship game on Monday (March 13) at 7 p.m. vs. No. 5 Grand Valley State (31-2). The Eagles and Lakers have played each other in a regional tournament four other times, with Ashland winning the last three in 2017, 2018 and 2021.

In addition, Ashland and Grand Valley are the only two teams to be No. 1 in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Coaches Poll in 2022-23.