The Ashland Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams split both of their weekend series with the Northwood Timberwolves this past Friday and Saturday.

On the women’s side of the hardwood, the Eagles fell Friday to host Northwood 74-67, largely in part to Timberwolves sophomore guard Mackenzie Todd, who chipped in a career-high of 29 points. 

Saturday saw a reversal of fortunes for the purple and gold, as AU was able to pull out their first road win of the season in a 65-61 contest. All five of AU’s starters finished in double figures scoring-wise, including sophomore guard Sam Chable, who had a career-high ten points. 

Chable highlighted the versatility of the squad in how everyone was getting opportunities to score.

“Having multiple people as a scoring threat does make our team so versatile,” she said, “because it makes teams have to be concerned about all players on the floor rather than two or three who score a majority of their points.”

The women are now 1-6 in road contests this season, overall 9-7. They will wrap up their five-game road swing as they take on the Lake Superior State Lakers twice this weekend. Tipoff is at eight Friday night, and then at 4:30 Saturday afternoon in Sault Ste. Marie.

For the men, they were able to defend home court on Friday, defeating the Timberwolves by ten points, but they fell on Saturday in a 73-68 final count.

One thing assistant coach Brook Turson noted on Friday was the ball movement by the purple and gold. 

“I think we passed the ball well Friday,” he said. “I also thought our defense played solid in holding Northwood to 50 points.”

The win on Friday was the Eagles’ fourth on home hardwood, while the loss on Saturday was overall the fifth at Kates this season. The purple and gold are 5-3 on the road to this point on the schedule. 

Turson praised how the team has played on the road, but wants to see the squad perform better at Kates.

“I think we’ve done well on the road,” he said. “We just need to find the energy here at home.” 

The Eagles will close their season at home against Lake Superior State with games on Friday and Saturday at four. Pregame coverage will be available on 88.9 WRDL and wrdlfm.com about fifteen minutes before each tip.

With the regular season entering the home stretch, the Eagles will look to earn a top spot in the GLIAC tournament starting March 4.