|
AU Women's
Basketball Headed to GLIAC Championship After Outrunning Lake
Superior State, 87-80 |
|
By Paul Carmany, AU Sports Information The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) indoor track and field championships were held last week. A pair of GLIAC women's basketball teams, though, decided to stage a track meet of their own during Friday afternoon's (March 3) GLIAC Tournament semifinal game. In the end, Ashland came out on top, outscoring Lake Superior State, 87-80, to reach the conference tournament championship game for the second time in school history. Ashland improves to 21-9 with the victory. The Eagles have won five straight games and 15 of their last 17 contests. They will meet either Gannon or host Grand Valley State in Saturday's (March 4) championship game at 5:30 p.m. Lake Superior State, which had defeated AU, 70-68, in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, on Dec. 1, dropped to 21-7. AU showed some early-game jitters despite appearing the GLIAC Tournament semis for the third straight year. It was the Lakers who found the rims at the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena to their liking in the opening minutes. LSSU led, 12-2, just 3:30 into the contest after a pair of free throws by Mandi Johnson. Ashland cut the lead to two at 18-16 after a DeAndria Bethune layup at the 12:54 mark capped a 14-4 burst. Bethune and Amber Rall had six points apiece during the surge. Lake Superior State came right back with another run. This time, a 10-2 run built the Lakers' lead back to 10 at 28-18. Two of LSSU's leading players, Monica Rehmann and Becky Marquardt-King, each picked up a second personal foul during the closing minutes of the half. With those two on the bench, AU capitalized on the situation. Bethune's pair of three-pointers highlighted a 14-1 AU surge that gave the Eagles their first lead of the afternoon. At the end of that stretch, Ashland led, 36-32, and the Eagles were able to maintain the lead going into the locker room, 40-38. Rall and Bethune were AU's two big guns in the opening 20 minutes, scoring 16 and 13 points, respectively. Johnson, a first team All-GLIAC North Division performer, scored 14 markers and helped the Lakers achieve a 25-17 edge on the boards. Ashland scored the first six points of the second half, bumping its lead to 45-38. The Eagles would be able to stay in front the entire way despite a mammoth second half by Marquardt-King. The first team All-GLIAC North Division selection and the national leader in field goal percentage at over 70 percent, tallied 22 of her 29 points and grabbed six of her 13 rebounds in the second half. One reason the Eagles were able to hang on was LSSU's lack of production from outside. Rehmann was held to just four points, making just one of her eight shots. As a team, the Lakers were one-for-15 from the three-point line. In their two games against Ashland this season, Lake State was one-for-25 from long distance. That one three-pointer came from the hands of Shalyn Beauchamp and cut Ashland's advantage to 58-56 with 9:58 to play in the game. AU then scored 12 of the next 15 points, making five of six shots during the run. Bethune's two free throw connections made the score 70-59 in favor of the Eagles with 7:25 left. Johnson hit two free throws with 2:09 remaining on the clock to bring LSSU within two at 80-78. Ashland held the powerful Lakers to just two points the rest of the way, however, and hit three free throws in the final 1:03 to hold on for victory. Rall hit the final free throw, scoring her 22nd point of the game and passing Vickie Schmitz (1987-90) for second place on Ashland's all-time scoring list. The junior guard, who also dished out five assists, now has 1,476 career markers. Bethune was another of the five Eagles to reach double figures. She scored 19 points for the second straight contest and passed out five assists. Catherine Portyrata scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half. Fellow post player Lynsey Warren tallied seven of her 11 markers in the final 20 minutes. Warren connected on all five of her field goal attempts, helping the Eagles shoot a blistering 65.5 percent from the field in the second half. Lisa Graue was the final AU player to reach double digits. She scored 10 points despite being in foul trouble for much of the first half. Freshman Alethea Lamberson also merits mention as she came off coach Sue Ramsey's bench to post three points, a team-high six rebounds and a team-best three steals in 23 minutes of work. Johnson finished with 26 points, five caroms and three steals for coach Kris Dunbar's side. Lake Superior State outrebounded Ashland in the game, 45-31, including 19 offensive boards. However, the Lakers hurt themselves with a number of unforced miscues. They totaled 19 turnovers, as compared with the Eagles' 15. Ashland's only previous appearance in the GLIAC Tournament title game came in 1998, when the Eagles lost to Northern Michigan, 94-74. |