LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PAGE
Opening a new season of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Thursday (Dec. 5) night in Sault Ste Marie, Mich., the No. 6-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team took care of host Lake Superior State, 85-55.
The Eagles improve to 6-0 overall and 1-0 in the GLIAC with the victory, their 12th consecutively in the series, while the Lakers are 3-3, 0-1.
Ashland has won 64 of its last 67 games away from Kates Gymnasium.
THE MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
- The Eagles wasted little time in jumping ahead, taking a 6-2 lead in the first two minutes of the contest. That advantage, however, was cut to 10-8 prior to a 3-pointer from senior guard Jodi Johnson – a triple which jumpstarted a stretch which ended with a 25-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
- Defense-to-offense was Ashland's first-period catalyst, as eight Laker turnovers resulted in 12 Eagle points.
- A slow start offensively in the second quarter mattered little in the game's margin, as, at the media timeout with 4:22 left until halftime, the Eagles boasted a 35-19 lead. By the break, Ashland had extended its lead further to 48-25, as the offense was showing efficiency to the tune of just four turnovers and percentages of 55.9 from the field, 60.0 from beyond the arc and 100.0 from the foul line.
- Lake Superior State scored eight of the first 10 points of the third quarter to cut its deficit to 50-33, then the Eagles righted the ship by outscoring the Lakers 18-6 for the remainder of the period to take a 68-39 lead into the fourth.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
- Four Eagles scored in double figures, paced by Johnson, whose 20 points allowed her to become just the fourth player in program history to score at least 1,750 (1,767) in a career. Johnson was 7-of-11 from the field and 5-of-5 from the line, and added five rebounds, two assists and two steals.
- Senior forward Sara Loomis added 17 points, nine points and two blocks; freshman forward Annie Roshak came off the bench for 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting; and junior forward Karlee Pireu chipped in with 12 points and five boards. Loomis' 1,078 career points move her into 20th place on Ashland's all-time scoring list.
- The Eagles ended the night hitting 54.8 percent from the field and 87.5 percent from the foul line. Ashland was the second-best team in NCAA Division II in field-goal percentage (51.2) entering the day.
- Lake Superior State went 0-for-8 from 3-point range, marking the first time Ashland has kept a team without a triple in a game since Jan. 26, 2013 at home vs. Tiffin.
- Ashland continues to get out to strong starts in games, averaging a lead of 25-15 through the first quarter of the first six contests of 2019-20.
- The Eagles are 205-15 (.932) all-time as a Top 25 team in the coaches' poll, and 94-9 (.913) all-time in that scenario away from home.
UP NEXT
The end of the two-game GLIAC road trip on Saturday (Dec. 7) at 7:30 p.m. at Ferris State.
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