The last game before the NCAA Division II "dead period" was a successful one for the No. 21-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team, as the Eagles knocked off No. 22 Northern Michigan, 84-62, on Sunday (Dec. 22) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
Ashland is 11-3 going into 2025, and the Wildcats are 8-2. The Eagles have won 15 of the last 16 against NMU going back to their Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference days.
Sunday's victory is the third for AU this season at home against a team which either was nationally-ranked or receiving votes at the time of the contest.
Ashland kept NMU off the board for more than three minutes to start the contest, and when the whistle blew on the first timeout of the game at the 4:29 mark of the opening quarter, the Eagles led 11-2.
After a 16-6 lead inside of the three-minute mark, AU went into the second stanza up by an 18-11 count – as senior forward
Hayley Smith picked up six points, five rebounds and three steals in seven minutes on the floor.
Ashland boasted a game-best 13-point lead to that point at the second-quarter media timeout (29-16), and by the break, the Eagles' advantage was 39-26 – and Smith nearly was halfway to a
quadruple-double (10 points, nine rebounds, four steals, three assists).
Freshman point guard
Ashley Mullet's old-fashioned 3-point play gave her team a 20-point lead at 52-32, Ashland led 67-44 through three quarters, and it went on to victory from there.
BALANCED OFFENSE HEADING TOWARD CHRISTMAS…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Smith ended with a season-high 20 points, and added 12 rebounds, four assists and five steals. Graduate guard Lydia Sweeney (16 points), Mullet (13 points) and senior forward Sarah McKee (10 points) rounded out four AU players in double-digit scoring.
- With her point total, Smith moves into 23rd on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,140 career points. Senior forward Zoe Miller now has 1,082 career points, good for a tie for 25th place on that list.
- The Eagles hit 54.7 percent from the field and 9-of-11 (81.8 percent) from the free-throw line in the win.
- Ashland turned the ball over a season-low-tying 10 times on Sunday.
UP NEXT
The start of the second semester on Jan. 4 at 1 p.m. at home vs. Ursuline.
