No. 12 AU Women Top Chargers, Break Tie For Second Place In Great Midwest

Continuing to keep pace near the top of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference standings, the No. 12-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team moved into sole possession of second place following a 70-59 win over Hillsdale on Thursday (Jan. 23) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
 
An 11^th consecutive victory puts the Eagles at 17-3 overall and 9-1 in the Great Midwest – one game in the loss column behind first-place Malone. Ashland now has won 13 straight games vs. the Chargers (11-6, 8-2).
 
"I don't think it was our best game overall," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens, "but I am going to celebrate the fact that we came away with a really big win, and we are in second place in the G-MAC. It was a huge game for us, and we're going to be able to learn a lot from it.
 
"I just feel like we can play even better than what we did."
 
The two teams were tied at 7 at the late first-quarter media timeout, then the Eagles ran off six quick points. That helped Ashland to a 15-9 lead going into the second stanza.
 
After the Eagles scored the first four points of the new period, Hillsdale came back with the next seven. Ashland went up by 10 for the second time at 26-16, then a second and third straight 3-point field goal lifted AU to a 32-16 advantage – forcing the Chargers to stop play.
 
At the break, after Hillsdale had cut its deficit to 33-23, the Eagles led 37-23 – thanks in part to shooting 50 percent from the field in the second quarter.
 
The Chargers came out of the locker room going on a 10-2 run to cut Ashland's lead to six points at 39-33. The Eagles stemmed the tide, however, and their 14-3 run gave them their biggest lead to date at 53-36.
 
By the end of the third quarter, however, Hillsdale made another move, and trailed by 10 at 55-45. Ashland scored the initial six points of the fourth to go back up by 16, and the Eagles kept the Chargers at arm's length for the remainder of the game.
 
SMITH MOVIN' ON UP…AND THE REST OF THE STORY

• Senior forward Hayley Smith had 13 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, three assists and two steals on Thursday. In the process, she moved past Gail Wasmus in two career categories – points (1,209 career, now 20^th) and rebounds (855 career, now fifth).
• "Honestly, I didn't really notice it too much," Smith admitted. "We were kind of locked in to what we were doing, and rebounds are controllable. I felt like I still could have ended up with more, but I am really excited just to continue to grow in that area."
• Another senior forward Zoe Miller, led the Eagles with 19 points, and added six rebounds, four assists, a block and two steals – continuing her team-leading scoring pace during the win streak and moving in 23^rd place on the program's all-time scoring list with 1,183 career points.
• "My teammates find me when I'm open," Miller said, "and also just doing whatever this team needs at any given time."
• Ashland had a decided 44-30 rebounding advantage, and kept the Chargers to 35.7-percent shooting from the field and 35.0-percent shooting from 3-point range.

UP NEXT
Saturday (Jan. 25) at 1 p.m. at home vs. Lake Erie (3-12, 0-9), in the team's Military Appreciation Day.