The Ashland Women’s Basketball team traveled to Canton to play the Malone Pioneers to compete for the first-place spot in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) on Thursday Feb 9. 

Ashland established their presence in a hostile environment with a 9-0 run right off the bat and the pioneers would need to regroup during the first timeout. Malone would outscore Ashland in the final five minutes of the first quarter but still trailed 14-7. 

Ashland kept their foot on the gas and ripped off six straight points to start the second quarter and Malone would have to play from behind for the rest of the quarter. The Pioneers were able to cut their deficit to single digits at 24-15 with three minutes until the half but Ashland decided to bump that lead up to 17 after an 8-0 run. The Eagles headed to the locker room with a comfortable 32-15 lead. 

The entire third quarter was back and forth with Ashland barely winning the quarter 14-13. Then in the fourth quarter, Malone started to gain some life and energy. Malone outscored the Eagles 9-2 and only trailed by 11 with 5 minutes to go. Ashland cracked down on defense and got some buckets along the way to close out the game as they captured the win 58-47. With that win they now have sole possession of first place in the G-MAC with a 13-1 record as they are one step closer to getting another G-MAC title. 

Senior forward Zoe Miller led the team in scoring with 14 points.  

Senior forward Hayley Smith became the fifth player in Ashland history to have 900 career rebounds with her 13 points and 10 rebounds on the night.  

Ashland gets their 15th straight victory and will look for number 16 on Saturday as they travel to take on Cedarville with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m.