AU women’s basketball prepares for Findlay at home
The Eagles return back home from a three-game road streak
The Eagles look to rely on a deep rotation to find a pathway to success.
January 19, 2023
Coming into the new year on Jan. 3, the Ashland University women’s basketball team finally reached the number one team in the nation’s ranking.
Now just two weeks later, Ashland is one of only three teams left in the nation that does not have a blemish in the loss column this season. The team, which had an early exit in the semi-final round of the regional tournament just a year ago, has had the No. 1 spot in the country on its mind.
“Our goal this season, from the start to the finish, is to remain the best division two women’s basketball team in the country,” said Senior Annie Roshak.
Although the team is sitting atop the nation in field goal percentage and broke the program record for field goal percentage in a singular game Jan. 7 at Northwood (66.7%), Head Coach Kari Pickens knows her team still has to clean their game up for when they play other top teams.
“I’m proud of our team’s resilience so far, but there are things we have to clean up, I think we are headed in the right direction,” said Pickens. “Currently one of the things that need cleaning up is offensive turnovers, as the Eagles rank 130th in the nation in turnovers per game at 16.6 per contest.”
One of the ways to counter the bad turnover mark is with ball movement. One of the new transfers on the team, Graduate Student Maddie Maloney is one of the top Eagle passers so far this year and feels “lucky” she is surrounded by such great scoring players.
“Our team is full of great players. People are able to knock down shots from all over the court, and I just feel so lucky that I get to play with each and every one of them,” said Maloney.
Looking at the most recent game against the Walsh University Cavaliers it was business as usual for the ladies, as the Eagles won 78-52. Scoring in double figures for the Eagles was Annie Roshak (18), Hallie Heidemann (18), Hayley Smith (10), and Zoe Miller (23).
The Eagles will look for their 19th win of the season on Thursday, Jan. 19 as they take on the Findlay Oilers at Kates Gymnasium with tipoff set for 5:30 p.m.
