No. 1 AU Women Clinch Outright Regular-Season Great Midwest Title After Topping Saints

For the third consecutive season in a row, Ashland University's women's basketball team is the undisputed Great Midwest Athletic Conference regular-season champion.
 
On Thursday (Feb. 22) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium, the No. 1-ranked Eagles defeated Thomas More, 86-48, to earn another Great Midwest title. Ashland is 24-1 overall and 17-0 in the conference, while the Saints are 15-10, 11-7.
 
"I am really, really pleased with our team's effort today," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens, who is 150 games above .500 (166-16) guiding the Eagles. "I thought we competed at a really high level. Everyone who came in did their part."
 
The victory gives the Eagles 16 in a row overall, and 61 wins in their last 62 games. Thursday's win is Ashland's 46^th consecutively in the Great Midwest, including tournaments.
 
"I never want to take that for granted, because it's really hard to do," Pickens said. "We have a team completely bought in on what they need to. They've been a joy to coach."
 
The Eagles scored 10 of the game's first 11 points, and led 15-5 at the first-quarter media timeout. By the end of the opening period, Ashland's lead was 24-14 – as five Saints turnovers were turned into eight AU points.
 
Ashland doubled up Thomas More early in the second stanza at 32-16, and by halftime, the Eagles' advantage was 44-30. AU had a decided advantage inside – a 26-10 rebounding margin, and fifth-year forward Annie Roshak (15 points, seven rebounds) and junior forward Hayley Smith (10 points, four boards) with big halves.
 
With 6:52 to go in the third quarter, Roshak had a double-double (17 and 10), but with 5:56 left in the period, the Saints were in the bonus – and trailing 53-37. At the end of three, however, the Eagles led 66-40, and went on to victory from there.
 
POST-GAME NUGGETS

• Roshak finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and with 2,261 career points, needs 35 to pass Laina Snyder (2,295) as the program's all-time leading scorer.
• Smith ended with 19 points and nine rebounds, and senior guard Savaya Brockington added 10 points and five assists.
• "One thing I've been challenged with is being more aggressive on the offensive end," Smith said. "I think I've taken a step forward in that."
• The No. 1 shooting team in the country and the No. 1 team in assists in the nation finished Thursday night at 50.8 percent from the field and with 23 helpers on 33 made field goals.
• "Our post players did a really good job of seeing where that double was coming from," Pickens said.
• Ashland had a decided 49-26 rebounding margin, forced 20 turnovers which resulted in 25 points, and kept the Saints to 30.0 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from beyond the arc.
• "That second-half defense was just elite," said Pickens. "We were overwhelming them with our pressure."
• The Eagles improve to 131-4 all-time as the No. 1 team in NCAA Division II, and 320-19 all-time as a ranked team in D-II.
• "We've been challenging ourselves game-by-game. We don't want to look too far ahead," Smith said. "We can't worry about what other teams are doing. We're trying to take it day by day, game by game."

 
UP NEXT
Ashland will travel up the road to take on Malone on Saturday (Feb. 24) at 1 p.m.