LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE
THE TURNING POINT: Ashland scored six straight points after an early 4-4 tie and never relinquished the lead.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Eagles have scored at least 85 points in all eight games in 2016-17, extending a new school record that doubles the previous mark of consecutive games to start a season.
The No. 2-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team continues as the lone undefeated team in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, moving to 8-0 overall and 2-0 in the GLIAC following a 95-63 win at Northwood (3-2, 1-1) on Saturday (Dec. 3) afternoon.
Ashland's 8-0 start is the sixth-best in program history. The Eagles improved their various winning streaks to eight games overall and in the GLIAC regular season, and 14 in the regular season overall.
The victory puts AU at 96-13 (.881) in the last five-plus seasons in GLIAC regular-season play.
Junior forward Andi Daugherty led five Eagles in double-digit scoring with a season-high 21 points – giving her 1,063 in her AU career to move past Lisa Graue into 18th place in program history, and leaving her two points away from tying Alyssa Miller for 17th place.
Freshman guard Jodi Johnson scored a career-high 17 points for the second straight game while adding six rebounds, five steals and three assists and going 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. Both junior forward Julie Worley (15) and sophomore guard Maddie Dackin (13) came off the bench for double-digit points.
Finally, junior forward Laina Snyder posted 12 points and 10 rebounds for her 31st career double-double, and has 1,113 career points – 10 away from tying Catherine Portyrata for 14th all-time in Ashland history.
The Eagles shot 51.5 percent from the floor and a season-best 87 percent from the free-throw line, and kept the Timberwolves to 35.4 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from 3-point range. AU turned 22 Northwood into 28 points.
The game was tied at 4 early before Ashland ran off six straight points for a 10-4 lead. The Eagles' biggest first-quarter lead was 13 points twice, and they took a 27-14 advantage in quarter No. 2.
Ashland extended that lead to 31-14 early in the second period, then moved it out to 44-21 halfway through the second and to 49-23 with 2:10 left until halftime.
By the time the break came, the Eagles boasted a 54-28 lead, and were shooting 65.6 percent from the floor while keeping the Timberwolves to 30.3 percent – and went on to victory from there.
At the beginning of the week, the Eagles had the most wins in NCAA Division II since the start of the 2011-12 season (150), and the country's second-best cumulative winning percentage in the same span (.867).
Ashland has won 24 of its last 28 games away from Kates Gymnasium.
UP NEXT: The 2016-17 GLIAC home opener on Thursday (Dec. 8) at 5:30 p.m. vs. Saginaw Valley State (6-1, 2-0).
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