The women’s basketball team continues to climb in the rankings. Now up to No. 6 in the Division II USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, Ashland has now won 18 straight.

Over the past two weeks, the Eagles won their last four games by a combined 85 points, starting with wins at home over Saginaw Valley State and Lake Superior State, and ending with road wins over Wayne State and Findlay.

Saginaw Valley State

Despite getting off to a slow start, the Eagles used a run at the end of the first half to come away with a 75-61 victory over Saginaw Valley State (3-13, 1-8).

Ashland led 14-12 after 11 minutes and it looked like the Cardinals might make a game out of what was expected to be a blowout.

Jena Stutzman made sure that the Eagles didn’t let that happen. The senior guard scored 10 points in the next three minutes as Ashland extended its lead to 27-14.

Stutzman hit a 3-pointer to stymie a Cardinal run with exactly nine minutes left in the half. Then, on the Eagles’ next possession, she pulled up in the lane and knocked down a pull-up jumper. A couple of possessions later, she nailed another 3-pointer to finish off a 10-2 AU run.

“She got in the flow of it,” Ashland Head Coach Sue Ramsey said. “They kind of lost track of her a little bit, and then they came out in the second half after she hit another one and did a little bit of a box-and-one on her just to try to take her out of it.”

Stutzman finished with 17 points and junior forward Kari Daugherty added 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Eagles, who shot 42.9 percent (27 of 63) from the field.

Junior guard Lindsay Tenyak finished with 16 points and six rebounds, hitting timely shots throughout. Sophomore forward Ashley Dorner had 12 points and five rebounds.

Lake Superior State

On a day when Kari Daugherty struggled to get going offensively, Ashley Dorner picked up the slack, scoring 20 points and grabbing eight rebounds in a 63-45 win for the Eagles.

“We have so many players that work hard every day in practice,” Dorner said. “There’s not one person that’s going to handle the team. It’s hard to stop a team like that.”

Dorner scored the first eight points of the game and Ashland jumped out to a 33-15 lead going into the half.

The Eagles found their groove in the second half, going on a 20-2 run over a span of six minutes to put the game away. Stutzman and freshman guard Taylor Woods each drained two 3-pointers during the run.

Woods finished 3 of 6 from deep and had 15 points. Daugherty came on strong in the second half and finished with a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.

“I thought Taylor played a tremendous game,” Ramsey said. “Our little freshman’s growing up right before our eyes.”

Once the lead was secure, the bench started to clear and those who started the game on the court became Kates Gymnasium’s loudest supporters.

“The people on the bench are the largest cheerleaders,” Ramsey said. “As people sub in, (the players who started the game) reciprocate. It’s the sixteen of us that are playing as a unit and supporting each other and enjoying it.”

At Wayne State

The Eagles took their show on the road, and what a show it was Thursday evening in Detroit as they dismantled Wayne State (10-9, 5-7) 112-75 to move the win streak to 17 games.

Ashland led by 20 before the 10-minute mark in the first half when Daugherty hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 32-20.

The Eagles shot an incredible 64.4 percent (38 of 59) from the field and 57.1 (12 of 21) percent from 3-point territory.

Daugherty was 8 of 10 from the field and finished with 25 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Dorner was 10 of 13 and had 22 points and six rebounds.

Tenyak had 12 points and Stutzman had 11 points and five assists.

Off the bench, Woods had 17 points and five rebounds and junior forward/center Beth Mantkowski reached double figures, scoring 10 points.

At Findlay

Before Findlay’s men’s team would pull away from Ashland later in the afternoon at Croy Gymnasium, Ashland’s women’s team did the same thing a couple hours earlier on the way to a 71-55 victory.

After being tied at 17 with 10:08 left in the first half, the Eagles used a 16-2 run to head into halftime with a 33-19 advantage.

“We never feel like we walk on the floor and have already won,” Ramsey said. “We have a confidence about us, but it’s a very humble confidence.”

Sophomore guard Alyssa Miller started off hot, hitting three shots in the opening three minutes to score the Eagles’ first six points. She finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Playing against an Oiler (12-7, 6-6) zone, Ashland passed the ball with precision, finishing with 24 assists as a team.

“I sit on the bench and enjoy it all the time, to be real honest,” Ramsey said. “They know when to make that extra pass.”

Daugherty had 13 points and tied a school record with 21 rebounds, 11 of them on the offensive end.

“It was unbelievable,” Daugherty said. “Everyone was really crashing hard, I think that was the biggest thing. They couldn’t concentrate on just the post players, they had to box all of us out.”

Stutzman (13 points) and Tenyak (10) also finished in double figures for the Eagles.

The win moved Ashland to 18-1 overall and 12-0 in conference. The team plays once more on the road, Thursday against Ohio Dominican, before returning home to take on Tiffin 1 p.m. Saturday.