After falling behind by 11 points in the opening period, the Eagles surged to within two points before going into the break facing a 40-36 halftime deficit. Senior guard Alex Davidson scored five of her seven first-half points as USI outscored Ashland, 21-14, in the second quarter.
Ashland (11-1) outpaced USI early in the third period as a 13-4 run put the visiting team in front, 56-43, with five minutes to play in the quarter.
Trailing by 12 with three minutes to play in the third, USI outscored Ashland 7-1 throughout the final three minutes to cut its deficit to six (61-55) heading into the final period.
The two teams went back-and-forth throughout the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter, but a 4-0 run, which saw buckets from Guy and senior center Kacy Eschweiler (St. Charles, Missouri), drew the Eagles to within four (77-73) with two minutes to play in the game.
Ashland, however, countered with a 4-0 run of its own to go in front, 81-73, with just over a minute to play and led by nine with 38 seconds left in the game. USI made one final surge as an Eschweiler layup followed by a steal and a Guy layup got the Eagles to within five (84-79) with 27 seconds on the clock.
After a pair of missed free throws, Ashland got a big offensive rebound with 10 seconds to play and made two of its next four shots from the charity stripe to go in front, 86-79, with less than five seconds to play. Sophomore guard Emma DeHart (Indianapolis, Indiana) sunk a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the margin to four points.
In addition to Guy, who added four blocks to her stat line, the Eagles got 17 points and eight boards from Eschweiler as well as 12 points, six rebounds and four assists from Davidson. Junior guard Ashley Johnson (Louisville, Kentucky) finished with 11 points and seven assists, while DeHart added eight points.
Junior guard/forward Jodi Johnson, the reigning NCAA II Player of the Year, led Ashland with a game-high 23 points, while junior forward Sara Loomis added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
USI resumes Great Lakes Valley Conference play when it travels to St. Louis, Missouri, to take on Maryville University Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
