ASHLAND — The Ashland University Eagles are headed to a conference championship game this afternoon.
The undefeated, first-seeded Eagles took off in the second half of their 80-56 win Friday night against the fourth-seeded Malone University.
The Eagles (30-0) will take on Trevecca Nazarene University in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship game today at 3 p.m. at Kates Gymnasium
“I am so proud of this team, and 30-0 is great. But we’re just focusing on this game right now and celebrating that,” head coach Kari Pickens said.
“We met every single goal, every single game goal I should say. And it’s been a little bit since we’ve done that.”
In a back-and-forth first period, the Pioneers took a 16-15 edge, the last time they would hold a lead for the rest of the game. By the end of the first half, the Eagles enjoyed a 39-32 margin.
Ashland started the second half with a 3-pointer from Maddie Maloney, and the gap widened from there.
“(We) kept ’em on their toes. I don’t think they scored against our zone hardly at all,” Pickens said. “They scored maybe two points when we pressed, and even if we didn’t get a steal off the press, we just, we weren’t gonna let them just run the same stuff that they want to run the entire time.”
With a 59-42 lead, Hayley Smith started the fourth quarter with a two-point layup before forward Annie Roshak took over the Eagles’ offense, scoring six points in a row and the Eagles soared after that.
Annie Roshak, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, led the Eagles with a season-best 26 points.
“Malone, credit to them, they did a little bit different than we thought, here and there. So, just really attacking them and continuing to be strong inside. I think that was a big emphasis all week. And I think we did that really well,” Roshak said.
Roshak was followed by sophomore Zoe Miller and junior Savaya Brockington, who put up 12 points and 11 points off the bench, respectively.
“I thought it was just amped up. It’s tournament time, we’re ready to go,” Brockington said.
