Snyder Becomes All-Time Leading Scorer, No. 1 AU Wins, 90-57

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For the first time since 2007, Ashland University's women's basketball team has a new all-time leading scorer.

The No. 1-ranked Eagles moved to 27-0 overall and 19-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with their 64th straight victory, 90-57 on Thursday (Feb. 22) night at Kates Gymnasium vs. Saginaw Valley State. Ashland also clinched the outright 2017-18 GLIAC regular-season championship for the third season in a row and the fifth time in the last seven years.

"We talked about going into this game, we wanted to win the league outright," said Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick. "That was kind of our immediate goal, so we have to celebrate that. Winning the league is showing a sign of consistency."

On a night when she already had been acknowledged in pre-game for having scored her 2,000^th career point two weeks earlier, senior forward Laina Snyder became Ashland women's basketball's all-time leading scorer. Snyder scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for her 45^th career double-double, and has 2,095 career points, passing Amber Rall (2,087).

"It was a normal game," Snyder said. "If I was going to score eight points, I was going to score eight points. The strength of our team is that we're great teammates. We should lead the nation in assists, because we have a lot.

"That just shows what our team is about."

The Cardinals are 5-21, 5-14.

TEN TAKEAWAYS

1. Sophomore guard Jodi Johnson paced the Ashland offense with 21 points, and added five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Already hitting 60 percent from 3-point range prior to Thursday, she was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc against the Cardinals.

2. Senior forward Andi Daugherty narrowly missed her first double-double of the season, posting 14 points and a season-high-tying nine rebounds.

3. The fans and the pundits focus on the Eagles' high-powered offense, but the AU defense deserves to take a bow, as well. SVSU was held to 32.8-percent shooting from the floor, 25.0 percent from 3-point range. The Cardinals turned the ball over 24 times, resulting in 29 Ashland points.

4. While Ashland didn't score 100 points in a game for the 17^th time this season, it did hit the 90-point mark for the 11^th game in a row, and the 22^nd time in 2017-18.

5. The Eagles shot 47.9 percent from the floor and 10-of-22 from downtown. Ashland also had a decided 49-37 rebounding advantage.

6. Ashland trailed 4-2 in the early going, then pressed and shot its way to an 11-0 run prior to the game's first media timeout. All 15 of the Eagles' early points were scored by sophomore guards – Johnson (eight) and Renee Stimpert (seven).

7. The first 10 minutes saw Ashland take a 26-9 lead, and the defensive effort was such that the Cardinals hit 3-of-18 shots from the floor with eight turnovers.

8. Snyder scored her record-setting layup outside of the six-minute mark of the second quarter on a putback. That was part of a 39-17 lead at the second-quarter media timeout, and a 51-26 advantage at the half. Snyder and Daugherty nearly posted first-half double-doubles (Snyder 12 points, nine rebounds; Daugherty nine points, eight rebounds).

9. Ashland has defeated Saginaw Valley State for the ninth straight time. The Eagles also won their 52nd consecutive regular-season home game, and 33rd straight game at "The Kates" overall.

10. For the Cardinals, Laurel Jacqmain led the way with 12 points, and Kaitlyn Geers added 10.

UP NEXT

The regular-season finale, and Senior Day, at home on Saturday (Feb. 24) at 1 p.m. vs. Northwood.

EVOLUTION OF ASHLAND COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY'S WOMEN'S BASKETBALL'S

ALL-TIME SCORING LEADER

AU

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