LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE
As announced by the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference on Thursday (Oct. 24) afternoon, Ashland University's women's basketball team is picked to finish in second place in the South Division in 2019-20.
The Eagles earned 51 voting points and received one first-place vote in the South. Grand Valley State is picked to win the South with 61 voting points and 11 first-place votes. In the North, Michigan Tech is slotted first (58 points, eight first-place votes), and Northern Michigan second (53 points, four first-place votes).
In 2018-19, the Eagles finished 29-3 overall and 18-2 in the GLIAC, winning the GLIAC Tournament and earning a spot in the NCAA Division II postseason for a fifth consecutive year. Ashland returns four starters this season – senior guards Jodi Johnson (18.0 ppg., 7.2 rpg., 3.0 apg.) and Renee Stimpert (9.9 ppg., 3.6 rpg., 7.3 apg.), senior forward Sara Loomis (16.0 ppg., 10.0 rpg.) and junior forward Karlee Pireu (10.8 ppg., 5.4 rpg.) – while also bringing back two of the top off-the-bench performers in the conference a year ago in senior guard/forward Sarah Hart (6.6 ppg., 5.2 rpg., 1.8 apg.) and sophomore guard Hallie Heidemann (6.3 ppg., 1.9 rpg., 1.1 apg.).
Spanning the last eight seasons, Ashland women's basketball has put together perhaps the best stretch in Division II history – two national championships, two national runner-up finishes, seven D-II playoff appearances, six GLIAC Tournament championships, five GLIAC regular-season titles, a Division II basketball-record 73-game winning streak (Nov. 11, 2016-March 21, 2018), and an aggregate record of 246-27 (.901).
Those 246 wins represent the most for any D-II women's hoops program in the last eight seasons.
The Eagles will begin 2019-20 with two games in Louisville, Ky. – Nov. 8 at 12:30 p.m. vs. Cedarville, and Nov. 9 at 12:30 p.m. vs. Ohio Dominican. Ashland's GLIAC opener will be Dec. 5 at 5:30 p.m. at Lake Superior State.
2019-20 GLIAC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON POLL
|
NORTH DIVISION |
TOTAL |
FIRST-PLACE VOTES |
|
Michigan Tech |
58 |
8 |
|
Northern Michigan |
53 |
4 |
|
Ferris State |
40 |
|
|
Parkside |
32 |
|
|
Lake Superior State |
19 |
|
|
Purdue Northwest |
14 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SOUTH DIVISION |
TOTAL |
FIRST-PLACE VOTES |
|
Grand Valley State |
61 |
11 |
|
ASHLAND UNIVERSITY |
51 |
1 |
|
Northwood |
38 |
|
|
Wayne State |
30 |
|
|
Davenport |
20 |
|
|
Saginaw Valley State |
16 |
|
2019-20 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON ALL-GLIAC TEAMS
NORTH DIVISION
Abbie Botz (Michigan Tech)
Cassidy Trotter (Michigan Tech)
Lexi Smith (Northern Michigan)
Jessica Schultz (Northern Michigan)
Carolina Rahkonen (Parkside)
SOUTH DIVISION
Cassidy Boensch (Grand Valley State) – Player of the Year
Jenn Deboer (Grand Valley State)
Ellie Taylor (Northwood)
Nastassja Chambers (Wayne State)
Jenna Falkenberg (Davenport)
AU
WBKB/DS