No. 10 Eagles Win At Cedarville, Extend Conference Lead

A week ago, Ashland University's women's basketball team was in second place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference standings.
 
Fast forward to Saturday (Feb. 8) night, and following the No. 10-ranked Eagles' 75-51 win at Cedarville, they have a 1½-game lead over second-place Malone. Ashland's 16^th consecutive win puts it at 22-3 overall and 14-1 in the Great Midwest, while the Yellow Jackets are 10-12, 6-8.
 
The opening quarter found both teams trying to get their offensive footing. Ashland scored seven points in a row toward the end of the opening period, allowing for a 19-12 lead afterward. The Eagles scored seven points off three Yellow Jackets turnovers.
 
Ashland's first double-digit lead was 24-14 early in the second stanza, and at halftime, it still was double figures at 33-23. The Eagles' rebounding lead at half was 22-9, AU shot 52.0 percent from the field and 5-of-11 from beyond the 3-point arc, and Cedarville was kept to 32.1 percent from the floor.
 
An old-fashioned 3-point play from senior forward Zoe Miller lifted Ashland to its best lead of the game to date at 47-28, then freshman point guard Ashley Mullet's modern trey gave the Eagles their first 20-point advantage at 50-30.
 
Ashland had a 52-36 lead going into the final quarter, but the Yellow Jackets scored the first six points of the fourth. That streak stopped when graduate guard Lydia Sweeney, playing against the program she spent four years with, hit a triple.
 
DEFENSE, DEFENSE AND MORE DEFENSE…AND THE REST OF THE STORY

• The Eagles kept the Yellow Jackets to 34.5 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from downtown. Saturday marked the 14^th time AU has allowed a field-goal percentage lower than 35 percent in 2024-25.
• Senior forward Hayley Smith posted her 13^th double-double of the season in the victory, going for 17 points and 10 rebounds. She was 8-of-10 from the field, and added three assists, two steals and a block.
• Smith moved into fourth place on AU's all-time rebounds list with 910, passing her head coach, Kari Pickens. Smith also has 1,275 career points, moving into 16^th place on that all-time Eagle list.
• Both Sweeney and Mullet finished with 12 points.
• The Eagles made 54.0 percent from the field, a season-high 60.0 percent from 3-point range and 75.0 percent from the foul line, while turning 16 Yellow Jackets turnovers into 25 points.
• Ashland has won 12 straight games against Cedarville.

UP NEXT
A return home to the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium on Thursday (Feb. 13) at 5:30 p.m. vs, Malone on Faith Night/Worship Night.