ASHLAND — The Ashland University women’s basketball team has never lost a Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament game, and the Eagles weren’t about to allow such a thing to happen on Tuesday night.
The fifth-ranked Eagles spanked Thomas More 81-49 in a tourney quarterfinal Tuesday night at the Sherrill Hudson Court at Kates Gymnasium.
Coach Kari Pickens’ squad will host the tournament Final Four, and play Northwood (18-11) in a semifinal at 5:30 p.m. on Friday (March 7).
Looking for a conference tourney four-peat to go with their four straight Great Midwest regular-season titles, the Eagles improve to 28-3 following their 22nd consecutive win overall and 28th straight victory at home – the latter being the longest in NCAA Division II.
Thomas More’s season ends at 11-18.
Senior forward Zoe Miller led four AU players in double-figure scoring with 18 points, while senior forward Hayley Smith recorded her 16th double-double of the campaign (15 points, 14 rebounds).
The Eagles now have kept the last 50 opponents to a field-goal percentage of less than 50 percent (35.3 on Tuesday night).
Solid shooting
- Ashland ended the night shooting 55.0 percent from the floor, 44.4 percent from 3-point range and 77.8 percent from the free-throw line.
- Senior guard Morgan Yoder and senior forward Sarah McKee each finished with 10 points.
- Freshman point guard Ashley Mullet dished out a career-high nine assists, as AU finished with 20 helpers to just six turnovers – a season low.
- The Eagles, second in the nation in scoring defense, allowed 50 points or less for the 19th time in 2024-25.
- Ashland improves to 28-1 all-time as the No. 5 team in the nation, and 355-23 all-time as a ranked team in D-II.