GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport women's basketball team welcomed No. 2 and defending national champion Ashland to the DU Student Center on Saturday afternoon in the final game of 2023. The Panthers scored a season-high 75 points but allowed a season-high 99 points in the loss. The Eagles were allowed to score too many easy baskets in the paint and transition which provided the winning margin. Ashland scored 56 points in the paint and 33 points on the fast break.
The Eagles led 18-17 at the end of the first quarter and Davenport had their largest lead of the game at 15-9 with 2:58 left in the opening quarter. Davenport shot 7-of-13 from the floor including 3-of-5 from the arc in the first quarter. The second quarter belonged to the Eagles 27-17 to take a 45-34 lead into the locker room. Leading 23-22 at the 7:17 mark, the Panthers saw Ashland run off 12 straight points to take a 34-23 lead with 3:05 until halftime.
The third quarter is where the Eagles put things out of reach. They scored 32 points in the quarter compared to 18 for the Panthers. The 25-point lead heading into the fourth quarter was too much for the Panthers to overcome. They did outscore the Eagles 23-22 in the fourth quarter and shot 7-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-6 from the arc.
Davenport finished the game 25-of-52 from the floor and 11-of-22 from the arc. It was their best long-range shooting day of the season with the previous high of 38.9 percent coming against Walsh.
Alexa Kolnitys connected on 4-of-6 from deep and scored 12 points.
Isabel Lindo led the team with 15 points and went 3-of-6 from the arc.
Lillee Gustafson scored 12 points and also had five rebounds and two steals.
Makenna Bryant scored 11 points off the bench shooting 4-of-7 from the floor.
The Panthers will be back to GLIAC play on Thursday, Jan. 4 at home against Northern Michigan beginning at 5:30 PM.
