There they go again.
Ashland University's women's basketball team, already with a seven-game winning streak under its belt earlier this season, now has won six straight games following a 76-43 victory over Lake Erie on Monday (Feb. 2) night at Kates Gymnasium.
The Eagles are 15-6 overall and 11-4 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Ashland now has won 13 of its last 15 games overall, and 11 of its last 13 games in the GLIAC, and still is two games behind Wayne State in second place in the GLIAC South Division.
"It takes a little bit of time," said Ashland head coach Sue Ramsey. "Six new people in the fold, and just learning how to play together and understanding each player's role and playing it to the best they can possibly play."
The Storm now is 8-13, 3-12.
There were many contributors to Monday's win – and three of them were freshman posts.
- Laina Snyder finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 shooting from the free-throw line, and added six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
- Andi Daugherty added 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, six boards and two assists.
- And Julie Worley, in just 13 minutes off the bench, had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
"I'm just so pleased with the depth on our team, and the contributions that everyone wants to bring to this game," Ramsey said. "Today was a game where we got to play a lot of people, and Julie is just continuing to get better and better and better, and the reason being is because she works so hard in practice."
Sophomore guard Kelsey Peare had a career-high-tying seven assists, as the Eagles had 23 helpers in 30 field goals.
Senior guard Taylor Woods, this week's GLIAC South Division Player of the Week, had three points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
"I love how Taylor runs the team," Ramsey said. "She only shot the ball three times. That's because we went inside. We went for the high-percentage shots, and she was leading the transition."
Ashland shot 54.5 percent from the field, including 72 percent (18-for-25) in the first half.
"They were open shots. They were layups," Ramsey said. "I thought our transition was great in the first half."
The Eagles also were 5-for-10 from 3-point range, 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) from the charity stripe and had a decided 46-26 rebounding advantage.
The Eagles, the conference's best team in terms of defensive field-goal percentage coming into the week, also kept the Storm to just 22.8 percent from the field and 25 percent from beyond the arc.
Ashland will play its second home game in four days on Thursday (Feb. 5) night in a rematch against Walsh, the last team to beat the Eagles back on Jan. 15 in Canton.
"We've grown a lot since we played Walsh over there," Ramsey said. "I'm very proud of this team and where we are."
NOTES: Ashland has a 66-8 (.892) home record since the start of the 2010-11 season…The Eagles' leading/co-leading rebounder has been a freshman in 23 consecutive games…Ashland has allowed 30 or fewer points in 23 of 42 halves this season.
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