Ashland Women Return From Extended Break With Home Win Over ODU

In its first game in three weeks, Ashland University's women's basketball team topped Ohio Dominican, 71-61, in a Great Midwest Athletic Conference game on Saturday (Jan. 3) afternoon at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
 
The Eagles move to 6-5 overall and 2-3 in the conference, while the Panthers are 5-7, 0-4. AU now has won 35 consecutive games in the month of January.
 
"It wasn't the prettiest game, and I think that we're still coming together, but I saw a lot of growth out of our team, and an ability to finish a fourth quarter," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens.
 
Ashland led 8-5 early prior to a 9-0 Panther run – and Ohio Dominican kept the lead throughout the remainder of the opening quarter. ODU took an 18-12 advantage into the second stanza, thanks in part to 10 points off seven Eagle turnovers.
 
To begin that second period, Ashland scored seven of the first nine points to cut the deficit to a single point. Then, thanks to a jumper from graduate guard Jenna Badali with seven minutes until halftime, the Eagles regained the lead at 23-22.
 
By the break – helped by turning the ball over just twice – Ashland had a 34-33 lead. The Eagles recorded 11 assists (from seven different players) on 14 made field goals in the game's first 20 minutes.
 
A nip-and-tuck third quarter ended with a 52-50 AU lead following a buzzer-beating jumper from freshman forward Jenna Slates. There continued to be very little wiggle room between the Eagles and Panthers in the fourth quarter, and after a fast-break layup from senior guard Alysa Lopez, Ashland led 64-61 with 3:38 to go.
 
Redshirt freshman forward Kyra Hill's layup later made it a 66-61 game, then junior forward Katelyn Harabedian's driving layup effectively ended the game.
 
MANY WINNING EAGLE CONTRIBUTORS

• Ashland dressed 11 players on Saturday, and all 11 scored, nine had at least one assist, nine grabbed at least one rebound and six pilfered at least one steal.
• "We saw different contributions from a wide variety of newer people today," Pickens said.
• Slates ended with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting to go with eight rebounds, sophomore point guard Ashley Mullet added 16 points, and Hill finished with a career-high 10 points to go with six caroms.
• "She just made some big impact plays," said Pickens of Hill. "She was a big presence inside. It was awesome to have her come back and play with such confidence."
• Ashland turned the ball over five times in the final three quarters.
• "The first quarter…we looked like we hadn't played in three weeks," Pickens said.

COMING UP
Another conference home game on Monday (Jan. 5) at 5:30 p.m. vs. Findlay (5-6, 1-3).