ASHLAND — After trailing 26-22 at the end of the first quarter, the Ashland University women’s basketball team turned up the intensity in the second stanza on the way to an 85-66 win over Hillsdale College.
“Our defensive intensity just wasn’t where it needed to be,” Ashland coach Robyn Fralick said of the first quarter. “We all needed to play harder and we did, so we had a good second quarter which really helped us going into halftime.”
The No. 1-ranked Eagles improved to 18-0 overall and 10-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference.
Ashland was up 13-8 with 4:38 left in the first quarter before Hillsdale went on an 18-9 run to tend the quarter. The Eagles opened the second quarter with an 11-2 run putting them on top 33-28. The Chargers closed it to a one-point AU advantage at 34-33 before the Eagles went on an 8-2 spurt to end the half with a 42-35 advantage.
After an even third quarter that left Ashland ahead 61-51, Ashland opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run that saw the Chargers go almost half the quarter before scoring and put the game out of reach.
For the game, the Eagles outrebounded Hillsdale 50-32, including 20 offensive boards.
“That’s the reality of playing a basketball season. You’ve got to find a lot of different ways to win and tonight I think we did that by defending and getting the first rebound,” Fralick said. “It was one of those nights where we didn’t shoot well but I thought we did a great job getting second shots.”
Junior Laina Snyder scored 17 points and added 16 rebounds, recording her 35th career double-double. Freshman guard Jodi Johnson chipped in 13 points, grabbed six boards and swiped four steals. Senior Kelsey Peare knocked down three 3-pointers, scoring 11 points and dishing six assists. Eight players scored seven or more points for the Eagles.
“One of our biggest strengths as a team is our balance and our depth and our ball movement. That’s always something we heavily rely on,” Fralick said.
Junior Andi Daugherty scored seven points against Hillsdale, moving her into 14th place on Ashland’s all-time scoring list with 1,205. She also had six assists and three rebounds.
The Chargers were led by Makenna Ott with 16 points and Allie Dittmer added 14 points and six rebounds.
The Eagles have won 36 straight regular season home games, including 26 straight GLIAC home games. They travel to Lake Erie next Thursday for another GLIAC contest.
Coverage of Ashland University Eagles athletics is produced in partnership with OhioHealth, the official sports medicine provider for Ashland University and dozens of high schools and universities throughout Ohio.
