February 16, 2013 - The Ashland University women's basketball team had a shooting performance worthy of its number-one national ranking Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles made 11 of their first 14 3-point shots and went on to earn an 83-57 win over the Chargers at Jesse Philips Arena. Ashland is now 25-1 overall and 18-1 in the GLIAC on the season, while Hillsdale falls to 9-13 overall.
As hot as Ashland was from beyond the arc, Hillsdale matched it through the first part of the first half. Freshman Kayla Geffert exploded for 10 of her team-high 15 points in the first 4:20 of the contest, as the teams battled to an 18-17 margin in the first nine minutes. But then the Eagles had one of their patented runs, outscoring the Chargers 32-13 over the first half's final 10:22 to take a 20-point halftime lead.
The Eagles ran their offense to emphasize the 3-point shot, and their accuracy was off the charts. Two players in particular were feeling it - Taylor Woods (5-for-8) and Alyssa Miller (4-for-4). They punished the Chargers with 3-point bombs until the margin exceeded 40 points in the second half.
The Chargers used a 12-2 run to close the margin somewhat in the second half, but trailed by far too many points to threaten last year's national runner-ups.
Geffert went 5-for-8 from the floor in scoring the second-most points in a game in her career. Sophomores Brooke Borowski and Kadie Lowery each had nine, while freshman forward Sarah Theut contributed four points, five rebounds and a teal in 16 minutes off the bench.
Ashland also made 15 of 17 free throws, and played good enough defense to limit the Chargers to a season-low five attempts from the free throw line.
Three players scored 20 or more points for the Eagles, led by Woods' 23.