AU Eagle women prove worthy of No. 3 ranking rolling past Northwood

ASHLAND — Ashland made short work of Northwood on Saturday as the No. 3 ranked Eagles rolled to a 93-57 women’s basketball victory at Kates Gymnasium.

The Eagles scored 18 straight points to break a 2-2 tie and were never threatened by the Timberwolves (3-7, 1-3) in improving to 10-0 overall and 4-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

“It was a great team win,” AU coach Kari Pickens said. “I thought for the majority of the game, we did a great job of just controlling the tempo of the game, the energy of the game. We stayed really composed and played together. … I think our team was really ready to play.”

The Eagles showed they certainly were ready right from the opening tip as they made their first six shots, forcing Northwood to abandon its man-to-man defense and resort to a zone.

Despite doing little work in practice against a zone, AU’s scoring outburst in the first 10 minutes wasn’t slowed one bit. Sophomore forward Hayley Smith led the way in the first quarter, hitting all five of her shot attempts and scoring 12 points as the Eagles stormed to a 29-7 lead.

Northwood tried to hang around some in the second quarter, trimming Ashland’s lead to 39-25 just past the midway point of the period.

But Hallie Heidemann, Ashland’s all-time leader in three-point shooting, hit a pair of distance shots back-to-back from the right wing and guard Savaya Brockington added another from the left side late in the period as the Eagles went to halftime with a 52-29 edge.

“When we figured out they were in the zone, I think it was an emphasis to push in transition off of their missed shots or turnovers,” said sophomore point guard Morgan Yoder, who finished with a career-high 10 assists. “We really exposed them by running on them in transition just to get open looks and easy post touches right away.”

Smith, senior forward Annie Roshak and sophomore forward Zoe Miller were the beneficiaries of those quick looks into the paint. The trio combined for 33 points in the first half on 14-of-15 shooting from the floor.

“I think we were just continuing to flow within our offense and finding the closest man to seal (in the zone),” said Roshak, who missed just one of her 11 shot attempts and finished with a game-high 24 points.

“And our guards did a really good job of getting it inside and we were able to finish pretty well, be strong with it and take our high percentage shots.”

The Eagles then scored eight of the first 10 third-quarter points, and went on their second 18-0 run to open the fourth quarter as the lead ballooned to 84-44.

Saturday’s win was a lot like the previous two for the Eagles, who have scored at least 93 points in each of the last three victories.

In those three, Ashland is averaging 97.0 points per game, is shooting 57.8 percent from the field, and has 89 assists on 108 baskets, including 32 assists on 36 baskets Saturday.

Against Northwood, Ashland shot 56.3 percent from the field and was 12-of-13 from the free-throw line, while mounting a 46-25 rebounding advantage as Smith earned a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Defensively, the Eagles kept the Timberwolves to 33.9 percent from the field, and forced 17 turnovers, which they converted into 22 points. AU has allowed 61 or fewer points in three of its last four games.

Roshak and Smith, who combined for 42 points, got a lot of help as the Eagles placed at least five players in double figures again. Miller, who leads AU in scoring as a dangerous weapon off the bench, finished with 17 points.  Heidemann and Brockington contributed 11 points each, and Brockington also contributed five assists and five steals.

“We’re looking for the open person and there’s no one playing selfish at all on our team,” Yoder said. “We’re just looking for the open man and hitting shots, and we’re always so excited for each other.”

The Eagles now will get a week off for finals before resuming their homestand at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17 against Kentucky Wesleyan.

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: AU Eagle women prove worthy of No. 3 ranking rolling past Northwood