ASHLAND, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University women's basketball team fell to No. 12 Ashland University tonight (Jan. 19), 75-61. The loss drops the Cardinals to 3-13 on the season and 1-8 in the conference, while the Eagles improve to 15-1 and 9-0 atop the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference.

The Cardinals were led by Meijer "Player of the Game" Aysha Boston (Detroit, Mich./Renaissance HS) who posted 14 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the free throw line.

Samantha Zirzow (Goodrich, Mich.) hit a jump shot to bring the Cardinals within two, 14-12, at the 9:47 mark of the first half. Zirzow finished the evening with eight points. 

Ashland would enter the intermission with a 36-24 advantage over SVSU.

The Cardinals trimmed the Eagle lead to 36-29 thanks to a Kayla Womack (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich./North HS) triple with 18:49 to go into the second half. Womack dropped in 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor.

The Ashland lead would grow to as much as 18 points midway through the second half. However, Saginaw Valley cut the deficit to 54-46 when Kristen Greene (Brown City, Mich.) connected on a three-point jumper with 8:12 to go in the contest. Greene recorded 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting including 2-of-3 from beyond the perimeter.

The Eagles knocked down their shots and made their free throws to stave off a Cardinal comeback to take the victory, 75-61. 

Both teams fired 42.9 percent for the contest, while the Cardinals also shot 93.8 percent from the foul line, going 15-of-16.

The Cardinals will return to action on Saturday as they travel to Lake Erie to battle the Storm for a 1:00 PM start.