Ashland University's women's basketball team is back in a familiar spot – in the NCAA Division II Sweet 16.
 
For the eighth time in program history, the No. 5-ranked Eagles will play in a regional championship game, following their 68-45 win over Northern Michigan on Saturday (March 15) night in a Midwest Regional semifinal at Grand Valley State.

"Really proud of our team's effort," said Ashland head coach Kari Pickens. "I thought, defensively, we were lights out from start to finish."
 
Ashland is 32-3 following its 26^th consecutive victory, is 38-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, and with 998 all-time wins, is two away from becoming the 13^th D-II women's basketball program with 1,000.
 
Ashland ran out to an 11-3 lead, then led 14-5 at the first-quarter media timeout, as the Wildcats (23-9) missed six of their first eight shots from the field. At the end of the opening period, the Eagles led 17-10 – helped by five points off five Northern Michigan turnovers.
 
Senior forward Zoe Miller had 12 of AU's 24 points halfway through the second stanza, then sophomore guard Lexi Howe's layup gave the Eagles their first double-digit lead at 26-16.
 
At the half, Ashland led by a dozen points at 29-17, and the Eagles' trademark defense kept NMU to 26.9 percent from the field and 1-of-5 from 3-point range.
 
Between the end of the first half and the start of the second, the Wildcats went scoreless for a stretch of more than seven minutes. That helped Ashland to a 41-26 lead through three quarters.
 
The Eagles scored the first seven points of the final period to pull away en route to the victory.
 
DEFENSE, DEFENSE (AGAIN)…AND THE REST OF THE STORY

• Saturday's game was the 11^th time AU has allowed 45 or fewer points to an opponent in 2024-25.
• Ashland kept the Wildcats to 31.4 percent from the floor and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc. It is the 29^th time this season the Eagles have kept an opponent to less than 40 percent from the field.
• "We just have a really good defensive team," Pickens said. "We have elite defenders."
• Both Howe and Miller led all scorers in the game with 14 points, and Miller passed her head coach into 12^th place on AU's all-time scoring list (1,416 career points). Graduate guard Lydia Sweeney added 13 points, all in the second half.
• Ashland has won 16 of the last 17 meetings with Northern Michigan.

UP NEXT
The regional title game on Monday (March 17) at 7 p.m. in Allendale, Mich., against No. 2-ranked Grand Valley State (34-2).