No. 1 Ashland Women Top Timberwolves, Remain Undefeated

No. 1 Ashland Women Top Timberwolves, Remain Undefeated

LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE

The 56th consecutive win looked a lot like many of the previous 55.

On Saturday (Jan. 20) afternoon at Northwood, the No. 1-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team scored, rebounded, passed and stole its way to a 113-75 victory over the Timberwolves.

The Eagles, NCAA Division II women's basketball's only undefeated team, improve to 19-0 overall and 11-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Ashland leads the GLIAC overall and South Division standings.

Northwood is 10-7, 6-5.

The Eagles have scored at least 100 points in eight of their last 11 games, and 21 times during their D-II women's hoops-record 56-game winning streak. Ashland shot a season-high 59.2 percent from the field for the second game in a row, while setting a new school record with 18 3-point field goals.

In addition, the Eagles boasted a 37-27 rebounding margin, had 25 assists on 42 made field goals and forced 21 turnovers, scoring 30 points off of them.

TEN TAKEAWAYS

1. Sophomore guard Jodi Johnson finished off a two-game stretch in which she very much looked like the defending GLIAC South Player of the Week. On Saturday, Johnson posted a game-high 30 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 from downtown, while adding seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

2. Senior forward Laina Snyder followed with 24 points on 11-of-16 from the field, to go with eight rebounds. It was Snyder's 13th game with at least 20 points in 2017-18.

3. Junior guard Maddie Dackin added 17 points, senior forward Andi Daugherty chipped in with 11 points and sophomore forward/guard Sara Loomis came off the bench for 10 points. Sophomore guard Renee Stimpert dished out a game-high nine assists – giving her 20 helpers in the last two games and 36 in the last five.

4. The victory also makes the Eagles 146 games over .500 in their last 188 outings – the same amount of games better than the .500 mark in the program's first 1,072 contests.

5. An early 4-2 Northwood lead didn't last long, thanks to a 9-0 Ashland run. The Eagles' first-quarter lead was extended to 17-7 halfway through, then to 32-15 with the clock at 0:00. The Timberwolves hit four 3-pointers, but the Eagles were 6-for-9 in that category, had nine assists on 12 baskets and outrebounded Northwood by a 14-6 margin.

6. Halftime saw Ashland with a 66-26 advantage, thanks to several factors – 58.1-percent shooting from the floor, 11-of-19 from 3-point range, a 25-11 rebounding advantage and 14 Northwood points turned into 19 Eagles points.

7. The Eagles extended their active winning streaks to a program-record 53 in the regular season, 37 in the GLIAC regular season (one away from the program record), and a program-best 29 away from home, 26 in the regular season away from home and 19 on the road in the GLIAC regular season.

8. Ashland also has won 16 consecutive games in the state of Michigan.

9. The Eagles' magic numbers are seven to clinch the South Division title, and four to earn a spot in the 2018 GLIAC Tournament.

10. Northwood was paced by Maddy Seeley, who scored a team-high 22 points, and Lindsay Orwat, who posted 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The Timberwolves finished with 13 triples in the defeat.

UP NEXT

A single-game week, and a return to Kates Gymnasium – Saturday (Jan. 27) at 1 p.m. vs. Tiffin.

 

 

AU

WBKB/DS