No. 2 Eagles Survive At Trojans, Tie D-II Record With 32nd Straight Road Win

The No. 2-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team maintained its spot alone in the first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference after outlasting Trevecca Nazarene on the road, 72-68, on Thursday (Jan. 4) night.
 
Thursday's victory gave the Eagles (11-1 overall, 4-0 Great Midwest) a 32^nd consecutive road victory – tying them with Saint Rose (Nov. 30, 1996-Feb. 20, 1999) for the longest such streak in NCAA Division II women's basketball history.
 
Most of Ashland's offense at the Trojans came from four players:

• Junior forward Zoe Miller scored a team-high 19 points in 19 minutes off the bench. The best shooter in D-II coming into the game, Miller was 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
• Fifth-year forward Annie Roshak posted 16 points on 7-of-11 from the field, and added five rebounds and three steals.
• Freshman guard Lexi Howe, making her first collegiate start, scored 15 points and added six rebounds, six assists, two blocks and a steal.
• And fifth-year guard Erin Daniels came off the bench for 14 points, three rebounds and four assists in 17 minutes.

The early part of the game was a shooting match between two of the top players in the conference – Keeley Carter and Trevecca Nazarene 6, and Roshak and Ashland 5. The Trojans (6-5, 2-2) eventually led 12-8, with Carter having 10 early points.
 
After the first quarter concluded, the Eagles trailed 16-14 – and hit just 29.4 percent from the field and 4-of-15 from 3-point range.
 
Down 24-16 in the second quarter, Ashland began its comeback, and the deficit was down to 25-21 at the media timeout. The Trojans, however, extended their lead to a game-best 10 points at 34-24, and by halftime, the Eagles were behind by a 34-29 count – just the second time this season AU was down after the first 20 minutes.
 
In the first half, Miller (13 points) and Roshak (10 points) combined for 23 of Ashland's 29 points.
 
The Eagles tied the game at 35 early in the second half when Howe hit her second 3-point field goal of the third quarter. Howe then made her third triple of the period to give Ashland a 38-35 advantage.
 
Trevecca, however, scored the game's next seven points to regain the lead at 42-38. A triple from Daniels re-tied the contest at 44, and Daniels' next trey tied the scoreboard again at 47.
 
Howe's fourth triple of the stanza lifted Ashland to a 50-47 advantage, and the back-and-forth continued through the end of the third quarter. Going into the fourth, the teams were tied at 55 – marking the first time the Eagles didn't lead after three periods in 2023-24.
 
Roshak scored six early points in the fourth quarter to put the Eagles back on top at 63-62, then Howe's fifth 3-pointer made it a 66-62 contest for AU's largest lead to date. The score was stuck at 66-64 in AU's favor for more than three minutes, then the Trojans tied the game again at 66.
 
Daniels' triple after a Howe offensive rebound put AU ahead, 69-66. Two Trojan free throws made it a one-point game heading into the last 30 seconds, then a free throw from senior guard Savaya Brockington left Ashland leading at 70-68 with 16 ticks remaining.
 
Two charity tosses from Daniels put the Eagles ahead by four points with seven seconds to go, and Ashland went on to win from there.
 
POST-GAME NUGGETS

• The Eagles made 16 3-pointers – two shy of the program record – and made 40.0 percent from beyond the arc for the game.
• Ashland had 21 assists on 26 made field goals.
• Carter ended the night with a game-high 24 points.
• Ashland is 6-0 all-time vs. Trevecca Nazarene. The Eagles have beaten the Trojans four times in less than 13 months (three wins in the series in 2022-23 alone).
• The Eagles are 55-3 all-time as the No. 2-ranked team in the country, and 307-19 all-time as a ranked team in D-II.

 
UP NEXT
Another Great Midwest road game on Saturday (Jan. 6) at 1 p.m. Eastern/noon Central at Kentucky Wesleyan (9-2, 4-1).