For the third time in five seasons, Ashland University’s women’s basketball team had the honor of hosting the final four of the GLIAC tournament.

The No. 5 ranked Eagle’s first matchup of the weekend was the Walsh Cavaliers, the only team the Eagles had fallen to throughout the 2015-2016 season.

“This point in the season, who ever we were going to play was going to be a good game whether it was going to be Walsh or ODU,” said head coach Robyn Fralick. “For us, the preparation and mentality was the same because we knew we were going to get a good opponent.”

The Eagles gained their revenge at the time when it counted, defeating the Cavaliers Saturday afternoon 59-68 in the GLIAC final four.

The game had a slow start, the first quarter ending with a score of only 14-10 in the Eagle’s favor.

The game remained tight throughout the second quarter and by half time, the score was tied at 29. The Cavaliers and Eagles saw a total of six lead changes in the first half alone.

It was sophomore Andi Daugherty who led the Eagles in points, tallying 23 for the day.

But it was freshmen Maddie Dackin and Brooke Smith who proved to be the core of the Eagle’s victory.  Both girls average about only eight minutes of playing time a game. Today, both players gave the Eagles over 20 minutes of playing time.

Dackin tallied 14 points of her own, four of which were clutch free throws in the final three minutes of the game.

“I have to go in and positively impact out team,” said Dackin. “We worked really hard in the fourth quarter and I needed to put those in to get ahead and seal the win.”

The back-to-back three point shots made by both Smith and senior McKenzine Miller in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter was the turning point for the Eagles to close out the victory.

“Our guards hit two tough threes and it pushed the momentum back out way,” said Daugherty.

The victory will take the Eagles into their next matchup tomorrow versus the winner of Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State University.