Box Score It's January 24 and the top-ranked Ashland University women's basketball team is a 20-game winner. Those are some impressive twenties.
You could have a barrel full of Andrew Jacksons and it still wouldn't be enough to buy what these numbers mean for the Eagles. Thursday night (Jan. 24) in Columbus, Ohio, the Eagles ran past Ohio Dominican, 83-46. With the win, Ashland improves to 20-0, 13-0 in the GLIAC.
This is the second time in school history the Eagles have recorded consecutive 20-win seasons. This current team has assembled a staggering array of splendid numbers but the significance of this feat shouldn't be lost. Twenty-win seasons were rare at Ashland before this group arrived. There may be a time in the future when that's the case again.
At one time, 20 wins were needed to get into the NCAA postseason. Now that the postseason field has expanded, that's not always true. Still, 20 wins is a line of demarcation, a plateau that signifies success on a nightly basis.
Now, for this team, 20 wins is still something of a taking off point. If everything goes according to plan and AU plays deep into March, the Eagles could be concentrating on 30 wins again (anyone remember Denny McLain?). A year ago, AU was 33-2 and went to the NCAA Division II championship game.
At ODU, the Eagles put together the kind of numbers that would make an onlooker believe such a run is possible. This was the fifth time this season Ashland held a team to less than 50 points. The Panthers shot 27.6 percent from the floor (16-of-56) and the Eagles out-rebounded them, 48-22. The Eagles pretty much had their way inside, outscoring ODU, 36-16 in the paint. When the Eagles were able to get out and run they didn't misfire often. Ashland led in fast break points, 15-2.
Senior forward Daiva Gerbec (Dublin, Ohio/Bishop Watterson), this week's GLIAC South Division player of the week, had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Junior guard Alyssa Miller (Zanesville, Ohio/Tri-Valley) scored 15 points and secured eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Taylor Woods (Wadsworth, Ohio) finished with 15 points and eight rebounds. Junior guard Noelle Yoder (Millersburg, Ohio/Bowling Green) came off the bench to score 13 points and bring down seven rebounds in 15 minutes.
Ohio Dominican was led by Katelyn Stuckey, who had 11 points and seven rebounds. Rachel Torey had 10 points.
AU led at halftime, 42-23. At one point in the first half the Eagles held the Panthers scoreless for 5:54. Ashland scored the first 14 points of the second half and led, 56-23 with 14:21 remaining in the game.
This was AU's 44th consecutive regular season triumph. AU hasn't lost a game to a GLIAC team since falling to Michigan Tech in the 2010-11 GLIAC championship game. A year ago, the Eagles were 19-0 during the GLIAC regular season.
The Eagles are back at home on Saturday (Jan. 26, 3 p.m.) to host Tiffin. That's the first of four consecutive games at Kates Gymnasium. In the 2011-12 season, Ashland went 2-0 against the Dragons.
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