Box Score Friday afternoon, AU head women's basketball coach Sue Ramsey could be found in the back of Kates Gymnasium trying to put a new ball rack together. There were times when the contraption just wouldn't come together properly no matter how hard Ramsey worked to make it so.
That's what most basketball coaches around the country face at this point in the season. At this stage of the year, many coaches are in the process of putting a team together and looking to see what combinations work. Ramsey is no different. However, this is the first time she's really had to do this in three years.
The last two seasons, AU played for the national championship. A year ago the Eagles won the title. But this is a new year and the only starters back from that team are guards Alyssa Miller and Taylor Woods. So, after wrestling with that ball rack on Friday, Ramsey turned to her team and finding the right fit.
Everything isn't fitting together perfectly right now, but AU came together well enough in this opener to defeat the Cedarville Yellow Jackets, 83-72 at Kates Gymnasium. Cedarville has won 20 or more games for five consecutive seasons and returns all five starters from last season. This was no easy touch in the opener.
"Overall I'm very pleased," said Ramsey. "Cedarville is a well-coached team. They have weapons on the perimeter and inside. We knew they could put up a lot of points. We were very respectful of this opponent. I thought we responded well, especially with the start we had."
This was AU's 44th consecutive win at home. Ashland has a 14-game winning streak dating back to last season.
Miller scored a career-high 25 points and yanked down a team-high eight rebounds. Woods had 24 points, six assists, five rebounds and a trio of triples.
"Alyssa and Taylor did what veterans on a championship team are supposed to do," said Ramsey. "Not only did they play well, they did what they needed to do to get us going."
The Eagles were ahead by just four points, 17-13 with 11:13 to play in the first half. But from that point until the half ended, the Eagles did what they had to do to pull away from the visitors. At halftime, Ashland was in front, 44-29. The Eagles shot 50 percent (16-of-32) from the floor in the first half and hit 8-of-9 free throws. For the game, AU would convert 27-of-31 free throw attempts (87.1 percent).
The Yellow Jackets did enough throughout the second half to keep the Eagles from getting a big enough lead to relax. It didn't help that Miller missed time because of her fourth foul. The senior played 34 minutes.
AU did get a big lift off the bench from two newcomers - Rachelle Morrison and Emma Hostetler. Morrison had nine points in 18 minutes and Hostetler had five points in 33 minutes.
"I thought Rachelle made some good decisions with the basketball," Ramsey said. "Emma is a shooter and I was pleased with what she gave us on defense."
AU turned the ball over just 15 times, which is not bad at all in a season opener. AU made 6-of-18 three-point attempts (33.3 percent) and shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) from the field.
Size will be a concern for AU all season and Cedarville had a 38-33 edge on the glass.
Forward Kayla Linkous led the Yellow Jackets with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Kayla Jenerette had 13 points and Raegan Ryan and Taylor Vander Plas scored 12 points each.
Up next for the Eagles is a home game with Indianapolis on Nov. 17 (2 p.m.).
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