The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association handed out its postseason awards Friday night, on the eve of the semifinal round of the conference tournament. Ashland junior forward Kari Daugherty was named GLIAC Player of the Year and senior guard Jena Stutzman earned first team all-conference honors.

The pair showed why they deserved those awards Saturday in an 80-70 defeat of Michigan Tech. Daugherty went for a career-high 31 points and grabbed 20 rebounds and Stutzman went six of eight from behind the arc on the way to 28 points.

“Great players show up on big days and that’s what they did,” said head coach Sue Ramsey, who was named GLIAC Coach of the Year. “You look at the offensive production and it was great and yet Jena’s in the locker room saying ‘Guys, I need to do a better job defensively.’ They’re amazing young ladies.”

The Huskies decided not to double down on Daugherty in the post and paid for it, as she used an array of post moves to score and get to the free throw line. Stutzman finished 10 of 17 from the field and hit several big shots down the stretch.

Feb. 16, the last time the Eagles and Huskies played – a game which Ashland won 63-62 – it was Michigan Tech’s Sam Hoyt who nearly stole the show. She scored 33 points and made seven of 12 3-point attempts.

Sophomore guard Alyssa Miller made sure that didn’t happen Saturday, sticking to Hoyt like glue the entire game.

“Our goal was to not let her get an open look and Alyssa was right on her tail,” Daugherty said.

The Eagles used a 10-0 run to jump out to a 14-4 lead and made another run to push it to 21-13, but a wild back-and-forth stretch over the last three minutes of the first half ended with a tip-in at the buzzer by the Huskies’ Emma Veach. The score at halftime was 36-30 in favor of the Eagles.

Daugherty reeled off ten points over the first seven minutes of the second half, pushing Ashland’s lead to 10 at 49-39. Two straight 3-pointers by Michigan Tech’s Lindsey Linstrom made it 59-58 with 7:55 left.

A little over two minutes later, with the score at 63-60 in favor of the Eagles, Stutzman grabbed a rebound and pulled up in transition, draining a 3-pointer from the left wing. Stutzman saw a defender between her and junior guard Lindsay Tenyak, who was standing in the left corner.

“I was like, ‘she’s stepping off me, I’m going to shoot it,’” Stutzman said. “That was just kind of my mentality the whole game.”

The Huskies never got back within four points and Stutzman put the nail in the coffin when she drained another “3” from the left corner to make it 74-65 with 2:48 left.

The Eagles finished 31 of 60 (51.7 percent) from the field and seven of 12 (58.3 percent) from deep. They also drained 11 of 12 shots from the foul line. The Huskies made 30 of 72 (41.7 percent) field goal attempts and made just seven of 25 (28 percent) attempts from behind the arc.

In the second game, Ferris State beat Tiffin 53-39.

Ashland and Ferris State will play Sunday at 2 p.m. for the GLIAC championship. The last time the Eagles and Bulldogs played, Feb. 11 at Ferris State, the Eagles won 66-56.