The Ashland Women’s Basketball team took on the Hillsdale Chargers Thursday Jan. 23 at Kate’s Gymnasium. Each team was tied for second place in the conference with an 8-1 record. The team to come out on top would have sole possession of the second spot. 

Ashland and Hillsdale would open the game knotted at seven halfway through the first quarter. But Ashland would take over out of the media timeout and lead 15-9 at the end of the first. 

Then, to start the second quarter, four quick points by the Eagles would take the lead up to double digits but the Chargers had other plans after that. Hillsdale cut the lead to just three after a 7-0 run that would put the game at 19-16 with 6:20 remaining.  

But Ashland went on a run of their own that included three straight three-pointers to increase the lead to 32-16. The half would close out with the Eagles leading the Chargers, 37-23. 

Hillsdale came out of the locker room fired up as they cut the lead to just six in a hurry off a 10-2 run in the third quarter. But the Eagles stayed calm and wouldn’t let the Chargers get any closer. Ashland would outscore Hillsdale over the next four minutes 14-3 to take their largest lead of the night with 17. Ashland was outscored in the third quarter by 4 but still maintained a 55-45 lead. 

Hillsdale couldn’t get within single digits in the fourth quarter as Ashland closed out the win with a final score of 70-59 and secured the number two spot in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).   

Senior forwards, Hayley Smith and Zoe Miller, led the way with Smith having 13 points and a career-high 19 rebounds and Miller tacking on 19 points to lead the team.  

Ashland improves to 17-3 and 9-1 in the conference and will look forward to Saturday Jan. 25 where they will face off in another conference matchup against the Lake Erie Storm.