The Ashland University women's basketball team played in its 1,500
th all-time game on Friday (March 7) night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
And that game ended up like 994 of them previously did – with an Eagle victory.
No. 5-ranked Ashland (29-3) will play for a fourth consecutive Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship on Saturday (March 8) at 3 p.m. at home following a 73-51 win over Northwood on Friday night. The victory avenged AU's last loss at the T'Wolves on Dec. 5 – and is the team's 23
rd in a row since then.
"I thought our team showed a lot of resilience today," said Ashland head coach
Kari Pickens. "There was a stretch where we were getting good shots, they just weren't going in. Our players continued to stay shot-confident, and when one shot went in, it felt like they all started falling.
"I thought our defense, once again, was something we could hang our hat on. We took them out of the lot of things that they normally want to do."
Northwood is 18-12.
It didn't take long for Ashland to assert itself, as it made four of its first five shots – all assisted – to take a 10-2 lead. The Eagles' first double-digit lead of the night was 18-8 following a wing 3-point field goal from senior guard
Morgan Yoder, and when the first quarter came to an end, the AU advantage was 24-11.
At the half, despite a cooling off offensively in the second quarter, the Eagles led 35-26 – as both senior forwards
Hayley Smith (seven points, nine rebounds) and
Zoe Miller (six points, six rebounds) nearly outrebounded Northwood by themselves.
A corner triple from graduate guard
Lydia Sweeney early in the third period got AU back on top by 10 at 40-30, and while the Eagles kept the Timberwolves at arm's length in the quarter, they weren't able to pull away, either.
Ashland led 50-42 going into the fourth, and the score stayed that way for the first 1:50 of the stanza. Northwood trailed by six before sophomore guard
Lexi Howe's wing trey and Sweeney's corner triple doubled the AU lead and made it 56-44 with 7:04 to go.
With 5:40 left, freshman point guard
Ashley Mullet hit AU's 12
th three of the night – and put the Eagles up 59-45. Yoder's fourth and fifth triples of the contest made it an 18-point Ashland lead.
"This team has been battle-tested," Pickens said. "And even when it doesn't always look pretty, they know how to win. Knowing how to win down the stretch to me is way more important than having a pretty game."
A PAIR OF DOUBLE-DOUBLES…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Both Miller (15 points, 11 rebounds, three assists) and Smith (11 points, 16 rebounds, two assists, three steals) finished with double-doubles in the victory. Miller now has 1,378 career points and is 13th on the program's all-time scoring list.
- Yoder also had 15 points, and Howe ended with 11 points and four assists. Howe was injured and didn't play in the first game vs. Northwood three months ago.
- "Lexi, she played great today," Pickens noted. "Both on the offensive and defensive end."
- Said Howe, "I've learned a lot being out this season with injury, and I've taken a lot from it. We didn't start out the way we wanted (in the first meeting in December), but that was the reason for our whole season. We've come here to win a national championship, so we can't let up."
- The Timberwolves were kept to 39.6 percent from the field on Friday night.
- Ashland is 10-0 all-time in Great Midwest Tournament contests.
- The Eagles have won an NCAA Division II-best 29 straight at home, and have prevailed in 51 of their last 52 at "The Kates."
- AU is 29-1 all-time as the No. 5 team in the nation, and 356-23 all-time as a D-II ranked team.
UP NEXT
The championship game on Saturday vs. Hillsdale (21-8).
