ASHLAND, Ohio -- The Wayne State University women's basketball team (10-15 overall, 5-14 GLIAC) battled sixth-ranked Ashland University (24-1 overall, 18-1 GLIAC) nearly even for over 24 minutes on the Eagles home court (AU led 45-43), before a scoreless drought of 7:30 allowed the hosts to build up a 23-point advantage (66-43).  The Warriors again played even with Ashland over the final 8:30, outscoring the hosts 17-15 but fell 81-60 as AU posted its 25th consecutive victory at Kates Gymnasium.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Eagles scored 11 of the game's first 13 points with the only Warrior bucket in the first six minutes of the contest being scored by senior guard Brittany Streetman (Warren, Mich. / Lincoln).  Trailing 15-4 late in the opening stanza, WSU tallied eight consecutive points to pull within 15-12 on a triple by freshman guard India Hawkins (Detroit, Mich. / Edison), a basket by freshman forward Brooke Wallace (Oberlin, Ohio / Amherst Steele) and another three-pointer by Hawkins.  AU recorded five of the last seven points in the first period for a 20-14 lead after 10 minutes.

Two free throws by Hawkins followed by a triple from senior guard Kristen Long (Durand, Mich.) made it a one-point game (20-19) two minutes into the second stanza.  A minute later, a jumper by Wallace cut the Warrior deficit to 23-21 before a 5-1 run by the Eagles.

A 10-3 run by the Warriors in a 90-second span gave Wayne State a 32-21 lead with just over three minutes remaining before halftime.  A jumper by Long was followed by a triple from sophomore guard Shannon Wilson (West Bloomfield, Mich. / Bloomfield Hills) with Streetman making a lay-up and a shot from behind the arc.  Ashland concluded the first half on a 6-2 spurt to lead 37-34 at the break.

The Eagles scored the first eight points of the second half on back-to-back triples by Kelsey Peare and jumper from Laina Snyder.  Wayne State responded with nine consecutive points on a jumpers by Wallace and sophomore Payton Birchmeier (Corunna, Mich.), another three pointer from Streetman along with a jumper from Shannon Wilson before the aforementioned scoreless drought.

WSU went 0-for-9 from the floor (0-6 on two-pointers, and 0-3 on triple tries) along with three turnovers during the 21-0 run by Ashland.

The Warriors would not get any closer than 19 the rest of the game, that coming on the first collegiate basket by redshirt junior Kelsey Bonewits (Griffith, Ind.), who joined the basketball team last month after a four-year volleyball career at WSU.

LEADING THE WARRIORS

Streetman garnered 13 points to lead WSU, while Hawkins added 11 points.  Long contributed team-high totals of eight rebounds and five assists.

TEAM STATS RECAP

Wayne State shot 34 percent (21-of-61) from the floor compared to 53 percent (29-of-55) for AU.  WSU made seven triples in 24 tries (29 percent) with the Eagles connecting on 6-of-19 (32 percent) from behind the arc.  The Warriors were 11-of-17 from the charity stripe (65 percent), while Ashland was 17-of-24 (71 percent).  The Eagles had a 40-31 edge in rebounding with both teams having 17 turnovers.

LEADING THE OPPOSITION

Andi Daugherty had a game-high 23 points and tied for team-high rebounding honors with seven along with Snyder, who totaled 13 points.

UP NEXT

Wayne State will play its final road game of the season on Thursday at Malone (6 p.m.) before commencing a two-game home stand to end the season.