ASHLAND – For the second time in six days, the Ashland University women’s basketball team was tested by Grand Valley State.
Just as they did on Sunday in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship game, the No. 1 ranked Eagles used a late-game run Saturday to pull away and win the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional semifinal against the Lakers, 77-62.
“Grand Valley’s a really good team. It’s hard to beat any team three times. It’s really hard to beat a good team three times,” Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick said. “We knew from last time we played them, there’s some things we needed to do differently. I thought our team did a great job making those adjustments.”
Using its trademark pressure defense, the Eagles jumped out to a 12-3 lead and finished the first quarter leading 27-18 thanks to 10-of-16 shooting.
The Lakers flipped the script in the second quarter, outscoring Ashland 15-7 as Grand Valley (24-8) pressured the Eagles into 2-of-14 shooting. An 11-0 run by Grand Valley to end the half left Ashland ahead 34-33 going into the locker room.
Early in the third quarter, the Eagles had a 39-38 lead before going a 7-0 run.
“That was a really big shift in the momentum,” Fralick said.
The Lakers were able to hang around in the fourth quarter. With 4 minutes left, Ashland had a 63-58 lead. Spurred by the Ashland faithful, the Eagles finished the game on a 14-4 run that propelled Ashland into Monday’s regional final. Andi Daugherty scored 6 points, dished 2 assists and grabbed 2 rebounds during the final run.
Daugherty led the Eagles with 21 points and 10 rebounds, including 10-of-10 from the free throw line. It was her fourth double-double in six career games against Grand Valley.
Laina Snyder scored 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 6 rebounds. With 1,491 career points, she moves into fourth place on the school’s all-time scoring list. Kelsey Peare and Jodi Johnson each scored 12 points for Ashland.
Janae Langs led the Lakers with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Bailey Carinduff added 13 points and 5 rebounds.
Ashland (33-0) will face No. 2 seed Drury (30-3) for the regional title on Monday. It is the fourth time AU has made it to the regional title game in the past six years.
A year ago, Drury knocked the Eagles out of the tournament in the regional semifinal.
“There’s some similar styles in the way we play – the speed and the aggressiveness defensively – but that’s the key now. We’ve got to get ready for them,” Fralick said.
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.
