SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Ashland women's basketball team overcame an 11-point deficit with a 49-32 second-half advantage and advanced into the NCAA Division II national semifinals with a 74-63 victory against Gannon Tuesday night during the opening round of the Elite Eight. The event is being hosted at the Bill Greehey Arena on the campus of St. Mary's University.
Gannon jumped on Ashland early, racing out to an 18-7 lead seven minutes and 27 seconds into the contest.
Doriyon Glass (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman) began a big offensive night with a three-pointer 17 seconds after the opening tip. It was the start of an outside barrage that saw the Lady Knights hit their first five three-point attempts.
Brittany Batts (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) nailed back-to-back triples, including one from close to the Ashland bench for a 13-6 lead.
Mollie Sebald's (Broadview Heights, Ohio/Holy Name) three-pointer at the 14:55 mark pushed the lead into double digits at 16-6. Gannon capped the opening run when
Jennie Thies' (Lakewood, N.Y./Southwestern) lay-up gave the Lady Knights an 18-7 edge with 12:33 showing on the clock. In all, Gannon hit seven of its first 10 shots while Ashland missed nine of its first 12.
Gannon still held an 11-point lead (31-20) following a Batts pull-up jumper with 4:20 left in the first half. But that's when Ashland started to turn the tide. The Eagles scored the last five points of the half to claw within 31-25 at the break.
It turned out to be a sign of things to come. Ashland, which returned all but one player from last year's national finalist team, blitzed Gannon with a 26-4 run during the opening eight minutes of the second half. The Lady Knights went cold from the field, going 2-of-15 from the field with 12 turnovers during a 12-minute span that started with four minutes left in the first half and ran eight minutes into the second half.
Before Gannon could stop Ashland's momentum, the Eagles had scored more points (26) during the first eight minutes of the second half as they did during the entire first half (25). It all resulted in a 51-35 Ashland advantage with 12:01 to play.
The biggest Ashland lead of the night came at 55-37 with 10:40 remaining. Gannon was able to cut the deficit to 11 points on two different occasions during the final 70 seconds, but could never get back to single digits.
Glass led the Gannon offensive attack with 17 points, hitting 6-of-8 field goals. The redshirt sophomore hit both of her three-point tries and all three free throw attempts.
Batts was the only other Lady Knight in double digits with 13 points. The sophomore scored 11 of those points during the first half and didn't get a shot off in the second half until there was three seconds left.
Gannon shot 42.9 percent (24-56) from the field, 40.9 percent (9-22) from three-point range and 85.7 percent (6-7) from the free throw line.
Two-time NCAA Division II Player of the Year Kari Daugherty recorded her NCAA Division II record 38th consecutive double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds despite going 3-of-13 from the field with six turnovers. Daiva Gerbec and Taylor Woods stepped up big time with 23 and 21 points, respectively.
Ashland shot 43.3 percent (26-60) from the floor, 35.7 percent (5-14) from behind the arc and 81 percent (17-21) from the charity stripe. The Eagles held a large 42-26 edge on the boards, including a 17-7 advantage on the offensive glass.
Gannon, ranked No. 7 in the
USA Today Sports Division II Coaches' Poll, concluded its season at 31-5 overall. The Lady Knights recorded the second-most wins in school history while making their second NCAA Division II Elite Eight appearance during the last four years.
Ashland, ranked No. 2 in the
USA Today Sports Division II Coaches' Poll, improved to 35-1 overall. The Eagles will face Western Washington Wednesday, March 27 in the national semifinals.
