No. 1 AU Women Lose Regional Semifinal To No. 14 Ferris State

The 2023-24 season ended for the No. 1-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team on Saturday (March 16) night, as the Eagles lost 64-59 to No. 14 Ferris State in an NCAA Division II Midwest Regional semifinal at Grand Valley State University.
 
Ashland's final record is 31-2, while the Bulldogs move on at 24-5. Both of the Eagles' losses this season came to FSU – the first being 66-62 at home on Dec. 16.

"The game didn't end the way we wanted it to end," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens, "but I thought that my team fought until the very end. We just dug too big of a hole in that first quarter, and I want to give Ferris a ton of credit. They played really hard, they played really tough, they had a great game plan. And they deserved to win today."
 
Over the last 13 seasons (2011-12 to 2023-24), Ashland is 390-41 (.905) with three NCAA Division II national titles, two national runner-up finishes, three undefeated seasons, a D-II-record 73-game winning streak, a D-II-record 39-game road winning streak (current, Saturday's game was neutral-site), eight 30-win seasons, 12 NCAA postseason qualifications, nine conference regular-season championships, 10 conference tournament titles, and a mark of 210-14 (.938) at home.
 
Ashland trailed 11-7 at the game's first media timeout inside of the five-minute mark of the first quarter. It was a 13-10 game before the Bulldogs scored the first period's final nine points for a 22-10 advantage.
 
The Eagle comeback began in earnest in the second quarter, and five quick points from senior guard Savaya Brockington cut the AU deficit to 25-19. Ashland kept chipping away, but by the half, Ferris State built its lead back to nine points at 35-26.
 
In the first 20 minutes, the Bulldogs turned 10 Eagle turnovers into 16 points, and kept Ashland to 33.3-percent shooting from the field.
 
The two teams kept trading baskets in the third quarter, and when the stanza came to an end, even though Ferris State was kept to just 8-of-26 from the field in the middle two quarters, Ashland trailed 45-39 going into the final 10 minutes of regulation. That marked the first time the Eagles went into the fourth quarter behind in a game in 2023-24.
 
Back-to-back buckets from junior forward Hayley Smith cut the Ashland deficit to four points at 47-43 going into the last seven minutes of the fourth, then Smith made two free throws to make it a two-point game.
 
That, unfortunately for the Eagles, was as close as they would get for the remainder of the game.
 
POST-GAME NUGGETS

• Fifth-year forward Annie Roshak became Ashland women's basketball's leader in games played on Saturday with 154, and finished with 11 points in 20 minutes. She ends her career 23^rd on the NCAA Division II women's basketball all-time scoring list with 2,370 points.
• Smith recorded a double-double off the bench (11 points, 11 rebounds), and senior guard Macy Spielman added 10 points in her final game as an Eagle.
• Ashland had a 37-30 rebounding edge.