ASHLAND — Going into Sunday afternoon’s Great Lakes League Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament title game, sophomore starters Renee Stimpert and Jodi Johnson had never lost a game at Ashland University.
Relax, Eagles’ fans. They still haven’t. The nation’s No. 1-ranked Division II team and defending national champion is still perfect.
Shaking off a cool shooting start, Ashland built on a four-point halftime lead and steadily pulled away from Grand Valley State University in the second half enroute to its 68th consecutive win, 85-74.
It’s the third straight season the Eagles (31-0) have beaten GVSU (25-6) in the league title game at Kates Gymnasium.
“Classic championship game. Grand Valley’s a really good team,” said third-year Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick, now 99-2 leading the Eagles.
“I’m proud of our team. We did the things we wanted to do early. We were just struggling to make some good looks. You can live with that. Going into the second half, we stuck with what we were doing, and we extended the lead.
Fralick’s halftime message to her team was clear.
“We said we are doing what we said we wanted to do. We’re going to be confident because we’re getting the shots we want, so be ready. There is a difference between shooting because you’re opening and shooting because you want to.
“Basically, we’re gonna stick with it. We gotta believe in what we’re doing and that it’s going to work,” Fralick said.
INSIDE GAME: While Ashland struggled from the outside (4 of 18 triples), the Eagles had great success inside, outscoring the taller Lakers in the paint, 46-29.
“We started getting some better ball movement. They are a very good defensive team,” Fralick said. “I thought we were doing a good job of getting the ball in, getting it out and getting it back in again.
“Our posts did a good job of working. (GVSU) is a tough matchup in the paint. I thought we had some really good post entries and buckets in the paint,” Fralick said.
Senior forward Laina Snyder, a West Holmes graduate, was a dominant inside force Sunday, scoring 27 points and grabbing five rebounds in earning the tournament MVP award.
The 6-1 veteran scored 11 points in the third quarter when the Eagles turned a 39-35 halftime edge into a 64-55 lead going into the fourth.
“There’s been good players. There’s been good coaching, there’s been good teams,” Snyder said of the Eagles’ conference success.
“This program has always been a great program. The 2013 national-championship (team), they took it to another level. We came in, and we wanted to rise it back to that level, and beyond,” Snyder said.
Ashland was perfect on ten trips to the line in the final quarter, finishing the game hitting 25 of 26.
“We make 25 free throws and we win by 11,” said Snyder, who was seven-for-seven at the line. “That’s a completely different game if we don’t make our free throws.
“We know come tournament time that’s something that can separate us. Take advantage of them when you have them. Go to the foul line confidently and knock them down,” Snyder said.
Senior forward Andi Daugherty had 18 points and five assists. Johnson had 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Both were selected to the All-GLIAC tournament team. Point guard Stimpert, a Crestview graduate, had seven points, seven assists and three steals.
For Grand Valley State, guard Natalie Koenig had a team-high 20 points, five assists and five steals. Center Cassidy Boensch added 19 points and five rebounds.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Ashland shot 48 percent from the field (28-58), including 24 of 40 two-point tries. GVSU connected on 44 percent from the floor (23-52), including 10 of 22 triples. The Lakers were 18 of 21 at the line.
GVSU had a 32-28 rebounding edge, but committed seven more turnovers than Ashland, 24-17.
UP NEXT: The Eagles will host to their third consecutive home NCAA Division II Midwest Regional tournament – in search of a third D-II national championship. There are 64 teams in the national field.
Ashland (31-0) will play a Midwest Regional at Kates Gymnasium for the fifth time in the last seven years. The top seed in the regional, the Eagles play Friday vs. No. 8-seed Hillsdale (19-10).
The three other regional quarterfinal matchups are No. 2-seed Drury (29-2) vs. No. 7-seed Findlay (22-7), No. 3-seed Southern Indiana (26-4) vs. No. 6-seed Lewis (23-7) and No. 4-seed Michigan Tech (23-5) vs. No. 5-seed Grand Valley State (25-6).
“What we have control over is how we prepare and get ourselves ready. Everybody playing in this field is good. We have done what we needed to do. Now we’ll just see how it plays out,” Fralick said.
Eight, 8-team regionals will be played at on-campus sites Friday, Saturday and Monday. The eight regional champions advancing to the Women’s Elite Eight will be seeded by the Women’s Basketball Committee after completion of the regionals.
The 2018 NCAA Division II Women’s Elite Eight will be held at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., on March 19, 21 and 23,
Coverage of Ashland University Eagles athletics is produced in partnership with OhioHealth, the official sports medicine provider for Ashland University.
