No. 1 AU Women Set New D-II Standard With 58th Straight Win

LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE

LINK - RADIO CALL OF END OF GAME (BRANDON WELLS, WNCO-AM 1340)

It took a win against one set of Warriors to move past a different set of Warriors - and into a spot alone in NCAA Division II history.

Thanks to its 101-84 win on Thursday (Feb. 1) night at Wayne State, the top-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team not only clinched a spot in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with seven regular-season games to play, but the Eagles also sit alone atop the D-II basketball record book with their 58th consecutive victory.

The previous record was 57 straight wins, set by Winona State's Warriors from Jan. 13, 2006-March 22, 2007.

In winning the matchup of the top two teams in the GLIAC South Division, the Eagles improve to 21-0 overall and 13-0 in the conference. Ashland's magic number for clinching its third consecutive South title and seventh in the last eight seasons is down to four.

The Warriors are 14-5, 9-4.

Senior forward Laina Snyder and sophomore guard Jodi Johnson each had 24 points to lead the offensive effort. Snyder added 12 rebounds for her 43^rd career double-double, while Johnson added seven rebounds and three assists.

Junior guard Maddie Dackin had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor, senior forward Andi Daugherty filled the stat sheet with 11 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and five steals; and sophomore guard Sarah Hart came off the bench for 10 points.

TEN TAKEAWAYS

1. Ashland shot 56.3 percent from the field, and had 27 assists on 40 made baskets. Sophomore guard Renee Stimpert dished out 10 assists, her third double-digit helper game of 2017-18.

2. Snyder has 1,982 career points – 18 away from becoming the second Eagle women's basketball player to score at least 2,000 (Amber Rall, 2,087).

3. An uncharacteristically slow and inefficient start resulted in an early 11-6 Wayne State lead. In the first five-plus minutes of the game, the Eagles missed seven of their first nine shots, and turned the ball over four times.

4. The largest Warrior first-quarter lead was 10 points at 20-10, and once the period ended, Ashland was on the wrong end of a 23-14 score. Wayne State hit 55.6 percent from the field, and kept the Eagles to 27.8 percent.

5. Trailing 36-26 in the second quarter, Ashland scored five points in a row to force the Warriors into a timeout. By halftime, a 17-2 run allowed the Eagles to go into the break with a 43-38 lead. The tide turned when the stats did – Ashland shot 50 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes, and converted 11 turnovers into 12 points.

6. The Eagles' renewed dominance continued into the third quarter, where they scored 11 of the period's first 13 points…in 100 seconds. With six minutes left in the third, Ashland led 56-40 – and the run from 10 points down in the second was 30-4.

7. A 38-point third quarter lifted the Eagles to an 81-59 lead, and Ashland went on to victory from there. Ashland scored 67 points in the middle two quarters.

8. In addition to the overall win streak, Ashland extended school-record streaks of 55 straight wins in the regular season, 39 GLIAC regular-season wins, 30 road/neutral-site wins (two away from tying that Division II women's hoops record), 27 regular-season wins away from home and 20 GLIAC regular season road wins.

9. Thursday's win was the seventh in a row over Wayne State and the 17^th consecutive victory in the state of Michigan.

10. For Wayne State, Shannon Wilson scored 20 points, while Nastassja Chambers and Ja'Nae Williams each added 19.

UP NEXT

Saturday (Feb. 3) at 1 p.m. at Davenport (7-13, 5-8).

ALL-TIME NCAA BASKETBALL WINNING STREAKS

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