ASHLAND — Thirty-two NCAA Division II teams packed their sad souls onto the bus and headed home on Friday with their season over. The Ashland University women’s basketball team made sure the Hillsdale Chargers were among them.

The Eagles defeated Hillsdale 104-82 at Kates Gymnasium in the NCAA Midwest Regional round of 64 on Friday. It was the third time in a row that Ashland has hosted the regional and the fifth time in the last seven years.

“Congratulations to Ashland. They’re kind of what every program in Division II should strive for,” Hillsdale coach Matt Fritsche. “They are impossible to hate. The coaches are good people, the kids play hard and they do things the right way.”

The score was indicative of Ashland playing their typical “swarm ball,” consisting of full-court pressure, pushing the ball up the floor as fast as possible and battling in the post for position and rebounds.

Even though the Chargers (19-11) were the No. 8 seed, they were coming off a G-MAC Tournament championship, beating Findlay 81-70.

In Ashland’s Midwest Regional bracket, there was already an upset as #6 Lewis beat #3 Southern Indiana, 72-64.

“I thought Hillsdale put up a great fight, really a tough team,” said Ashland coach Robyn Fralick. “I thought our first half was really good, thought our second half, we had some lapses, but when we did I think we fought back and did enough.”

The game definitely tightened in the fourth quarter after Ashland ballooned to a 29-point advantage in the third quarter. Hillsdale cut the deficit to 14 with 7:45 remaining, triggering an AU timeout.

“We weren’t getting back, so that was probably the biggest adjustment, need to do a better job of getting the ball stopped and getting back,” Fralick said.

Two minutes later the Eagles were back up by 21.

It was the run-crushing result of a Renee Stimpert layup, followed by a 3 from GLIAC Player of the Year and the country’s steals leader with 118, Jodi Johnson. Naturally she stole the ball on the next possession, leading to an easy Maddie Dackin bucket. The “purple storm” Eagle fan base erupted with that clinching salvo.

“We took a little bit of a gamble, we didn’t guard #4 (Stimpert) very much, we were going to make her make 3s, she only made 20 on the year. That was my fault,” Fritsche said.

The Crestview graduate knew exactly what to do against that kind of strategy.

“They are leaving me wide open, so I mean, it’s just my job to knock down the 3. They score, and we hit right back a couple seconds later,” Stimpert said. “It’s my job to push the ball up the floor and find the open man, and as a team we do that really well.

“Hittin’ them when they’re hittin’ us.”

Hillsdale has been a team reliant on its post play this season. But adjusting to AU standouts Laina Snyder and Andi Daugherty was no easy task.

“I think we did a really good job breaking their press, getting the ball across court and then looking down low,” said Hillsdale’s Allie Dittmer.

Double-teaming players in the paint works well, as long as the outside shots aren’t falling.

“Like they were kinda doing on Renee, doubling down, they were kinda sagging off, I realized I was wide open. Once I hit those two (3s), it kinda opened things up,” Snyder said. “They were flying out at me and I was able to open that down-low to Andi.”

It was a 33-16 advantage to Ashland after the 1st quarter and 59-34 at the half.

Despite the “one and done” format of the NCAA tournament and all the pressure surrounding this historic Ashland team, the beginning of the game was filled with smiles.

“Coach has been stressing a lot this postseason, freedom and joy, and when we play with that and have that kind of attitude, it takes a lot of the pressure off of that ‘one-and-done’ mentality, it’s more of a, let’s go out and play and have fun,” said Snyder.

That quote was proven true after the game, as Fralick earned her 100th win.

“We got coach with some silly string in the locker room after the game, so it was a good celebration,” Daugherty said.

The Eagles, with an all-time postseason record of 22-5, take their 69-game win streak into Saturday’s regional semifinal round of 32, against Grand Valley St., at 7:30 p.m. at Kates.

Although Ashland’s undefeated, it was Grand Valley St. that took the Eagles to overtime on Feb. 15, where Ashland survived, 96-90. Grand Valley has also lost to the Eagles in three straight conference tournament finals.

Coverage of Ashland University Eagles athletics is produced in partnership with OhioHealth, the official sports medicine provider for Ashland University.