Boxscore

DETROIT - The Wayne State Warrior women's basketball team (2-3, 2-1 GLIAC) had a pretty rare opportunity to host the top-ranked team in the entire nation in the Ashland Eagles (9-0, 3-0 GLIAC) Wednesday evening. The Eagles entered the Matthaei fresh off a clean sweep of the first-place votes in the latest WBCA Top 25 poll and are led by Kari Daugherty, who was also selected as the Preseason GLIAC Player of the Year.

The Warriors withstood the early going behind some sharp outside shooting and aggressive defense that kept the Eagles on their toes. Following a lay-in by senior guard Talisha Bridges (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Loy Norrix) at the 17:50 mark the home team had a 7-2 lead and the Eagles were looking like the over matched team. Neither team held a lead greater than four points following that and the fourth time of the opening half came at 30-30 with just over five minutes to play in the opening half. It was there that Ashland began to pull away, a pair of missed shots and turnovers quickly set the Green and Gold back by eight and as the half came to an end the lead had grown to 12.

Phaebre Colbert (Grand Rapids, Mich. / Forest Hills Northern) was dominant in the early goings as she had 10 points and four rebounds at the intermission. Daugherty had already imposed her will however and led all players with 17 points and 13 rebounds in the first half, extending her Division II record double-double streak to 26 consecutive games.

Wayne State would cut the Eagle lead to just seven on a pair of occasions in the second half (53-46) with the latest instance coming at the 13:12 mark before seeing the margin again grow to double digits.

Colbert would finish with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Talisha Bridges turned in 13 points and five boards.

The Warriors now prepare for Lake Erie on Sunday at 4:00 PM in Detroit.