On Thursday (Nov. 21) night in Michigan, the No. 7-ranked Ashland University's women's basketball team lost 67-42 at No. 2-ranked Grand Valley State.
The Eagles (4-2) saw their NCAA Division II women's basketball-record 41-game road winning streak snapped by the Lakers (7-0).
Thursday night's game was the 19
th meeting between AU and GVSU since the start of the 2015-16 season.
It took more than 5½ minutes for Ashland to get on the scoreboard, but when senior forward
Sarah McKee converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, the Eagles only trailed 4-3. A reverse layup from graduate guard
Lydia Sweeney gave AU its first lead at 5-4.
The first quarter ended at 10-10, but by halftime, the Lakers had pulled away and boasted a 29-22 advantage. The stats from the first 20 minutes were up and down:
- Grand Valley took 13 more shots from the field (32-19), but Ashland had the better shooting percentage (42.1-37.5).
- The Eagles turned the ball over 15 times, leading to 13 Laker points.
- Senior forward Hayley Smith pulled down 11 rebounds in 14 minutes of action.
- Freshman point guard Ashley Mullet had all of Ashland's triples (three), setting a new early career high for a single game.
Grand Valley's first double-digit lead came outside of the eight-minute mark of the third quarter at 32-22, and the Lakers later went on a 13-0 run to pull away and eventually win.
…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Smith grabbed a career-high-tying 16 rebounds, and is averaging 10.7 per game on the young season.
- Senior guard Morgan Yoder ended the night with 10 points, three assists and three steals.
UP NEXT
The other game on the Michigan road trip on Saturday (Nov. 23) at 1 p.m. at No. 14 Ferris State (5-1).
