The Ashland Eagles women’s basketball team have faced quite a few tests throughout the 2024-25 season.
Despite some stretches of adversity, they currently sit near the top of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) standings. Ashland is second in the standings with a 10-1 record, with an 18-3 mark overall, only bested by the Malone Pioneers, who are yet to fall in conference play.
The Eagles have won the last three G-MAC championships and are gunning for a fourth straight trophy this year. But they have their eyes set on much higher goals than the top of their conference. After winning the 2023 national championship, Ashland fell early in the 2024 regional semifinals to the Ferris State Bulldogs.
Coming into this season, head coach Kari Pickens wants to prepare her team for what could come down the line.
“We needed to get our strength of schedule up, “Pickens said. “We felt that was the biggest reason we didn’t go as far.”
The increase in competition led to the Eagles facing three top 14 teams in a week span back in November. Ashland finished 2-1 in these three contests, with the lone loss coming to the second place nationally ranked Grand Valley State Lakers, on the road. The early season adversity didn’t stop there, as the Eagles fell to the Northwood Timberwolves in their conference opener 69-58.
Since that early loss, the Eagles have not blinked an eye, going undefeated in their last 12 games. All of their victories have come by double digits, a feat never accomplished before in program history. This dominating stretch has been done with a complete team effort.
The dynamic senior frontcourt of Hayley Smith and Zoey Miller has been mesmerizing all season long. Miller leads the Eagles in scoring, averaging 13.9 points per game. Now playing as a full-time starter, Miller is also grabbing 7.4 rebounds while shooting 47.2 percent from three-point range. Smith is the only player in the G-MAC to average double, giving the Eagles 12.0 points and a conference leading 11.3 boards per contest. The veteran frontcourt for Ashland is also the most efficient combination in the G-MAC, with both Miller and Smith ranking in the top 3 in field goal percentage.
In the backcourt, another senior is leading the way for Ashland, with Morgan Yoder scoring 7.4 points and 3.4 assists per game. Yoder has been one of the nation’s most accurate three-point shooters all season, knocking down 42.4 percent of her threes.
The Eagles have also received some terrific play from some players in their first year with Ashland. Graduate forward Lydia Sweeney has provided a calm presence in Kari Pickens’s starting lineup averaging 10.3 points a game. After transferring from Cedarville University, Sweeney started off a bit cold shooting the ball. In her last 12 games, Sweeney is putting up 12.3 points shooting 45 percent from the floor.
Meanwhile, freshman guard Ashley Mullet has been a terrific fit for Ashland. She has excelled in every role that her coaching staff has asked her to play. Mullet is scoring 7.4 points per contest, along with 2.3 assists. She did a great job filling in that starting guard role while sophomore Lexi Howe missed some time with a shoulder injury. Howe, the reigning Great Midwest Freshman of the Year, is starting to get back into her rhythm on both ends of the floor.
Ashland has done a terrific job of using their depth throughout all of these matchups. Nearly every Eagle has scored ten points or more in a game this season. They will look to continue their winning ways throughout the rest of the year, with a fourth G-MAC championship on the line.
In the G-MAC standings, Ashland sits a half game behind the 10-0 Malone Pioneers.
Ashland and Malone still have two matchups coming up soon, with the first coming on Thursday Feb. 6 in Canton, Ohio. Just one week later, the Pioneers will come to Ashland to face the Eagles on Thursday Feb. 13. Both games are set to tip at 5:30 pm.
