The Ashland University women’s basketball team found a way to keep their perfect season alive on a night where they did not play their best.

AU slugged it out with Ohio Dominican University for four quarters Thursday night before finally coming away with a 66-62 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at Kates Gymnasium.

“We have to clean a number of things up,” said head coach Robyn Fralick. “But I told the kids that I’m proud that they found a way to win, knowing that there’s a lot of things we need to improve on.”

The first quarter featured 17 turnovers between the two teams. The turnovers, combined with poor shooting by both teams, led to Ashland (19-0, 13-0 GLIAC) holding an 11-9 lead after one period. 

Things would not get much better offensively for either team in the second quarter, and Ashland went into the locker room leading 24-21.

The third quarter was the Kelsey Peare show. Peare put her teammates on her back, scoring 12 of her team-high 17 points in the quarter.

Peare said that her mindset in the third quarter was to do whatever she could to help the team.

Ashland outscored the Panthers (14-5, 9-4 GLIAC) 25-16 in the third quarter.

“The team did a better job of moving the ball in the quarter,” said Fralick.

Ohio Dominican had no intentions of going away.

The Panthers went on a 13-0 run to begin the fourth quarter, cutting Ashland’s lead to 49-48.

Fralick said turnovers and second chance opportunities sparked Ohio Dominican’s run.

Ashland responded with a 7-0 run of their own, pushing their lead back to 58-50 with 2:54 remaining in the game.

Ohio Dominican continued to hang around, trailing 63-60 with 16 seconds left. That is when the Panthers’ Megan Eyre committed the last and most critical turnover of the game. The Eagles would then close the game out from the free-throw line.

Laina Snyder contributed 14 points and nine rebounds to the winning effort, while Andi Daugherty added 13 points and six rebounds. Alex Henning finished the game with seven points, four rebounds and five assists. McKenzie Miller chipped in seven points, four rebounds and four assists.

 “There’s always room for improvement,” said Peare. “We’re just going to keep going up from here. Which we should, because we can play better. But we won tonight, and that’s always a good thing.”

Ashland’s next game is a home contest Saturday versus Tiffin. Tipoff is at 1 p.m.