Valentine’s Day is always full of surprises, but there were few people on Ashland’s campus that saw this one coming.

As word started to spread that the undefeated and top-ranked women’s basketball team had fallen 66-51 to Findlay last Thursday, many reacted with some form of denial.

It went something like, “No way. Really?”

After all, the Eagles had defeated the same Oilers team 72-41 less than a month earlier and were starting to look pretty much unbeatable, at least against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference competition.

Ashland went into UF’s Croy Gymnasium having won 49 straight regular season games and 38 straight against GLIAC foes.

It’s just the way we’ve come to view this team. Attendance has skyrocketed since the beginning of last season, and many of the fans that pack Kates Gymnasium every home game have never seen the Eagles lose, at least not at home.

It’s almost—among fans and students only, not the players and coaches—a feeling of invincibility. Not that winning is a given—if it was, we wouldn’t watch—but these women sometimes make it look so easy that it’s hard to imagine the alternative.

Except… invincible just isn’t a word that exists in the game of basketball, particularly at the college level. “March Madness” isn’t just a name. The phrase has come to define the most unpredictable of our American sports pastimes.

So what does the loss to Findlay mean? Should we panic? Absolutely not.

Remember, the Eagles have played the last eight games—including Saturday’s 83-57 drubbing of Hillsdale—without senior forward Kari Daugherty. Remember her? She just so happens to be the best player in the country. Without her, Ashland has barely missed a beat, going 7-1. Her return is just around the corner.

If anything, the adversity of losing its best player and falling to a conference rival will only make the team stronger and more focused than it already is. If you don’t trust me, head coach Sue Ramsey has a way of making you feel at ease.

“This team’s gotten better without (Daugherty),” she said. “Now she comes back into the mix and we can take it and continue to get better.”

As for whether Daugherty would have made a difference against the Oilers, Ramsey says the answer is yes.

The two things that make Findlay a tough matchup are its depth—13 players average double digit minutes—and its full-court press. Daugherty is the difference between breaking that press and scoring against it.

“We broke the press, but they were still able to set up in their defense,” Ramsey said. “I feel like we would have been more aggressive in breaking their press.”

In the first meeting between the two teams Jan. 17, Ashland jumped out to a 20-0 lead. Daugherty had 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks before she left the game late in the first half with the knee injury that has kept her out since. In that game, Ashland used its defense to ignite its offense.

Last Thursday, the opposite happened. Findlay packed the lane with a matchup zone and closed out hard on Ashland’s shooters, who came into the game red-hot. The strategy worked. The Eagles finished 2 of 20 from behind the 3-point line. Normally when they go cold—especially against the zone—they trust Daugherty to score and distribute from the middle of the floor.

While a quicker return by Daugherty may have prevented the loss, her absence caused the team to grow in other areas. Ashley Dorner stepped back into the starting lineup and averaged 8.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Taylor Woods upped her scoring to 16.1 ppg on 50.5 percent (46 of 91) shooting from the field and 52.1 percent (25 of 48) from behind the arc.

Defensively, Daiva Gerbec has been challenged to guard some of the best post players in the GLIAC and done well while staying near the top in the country in field goal percentage (sixth, 59.5 percent).

Alyssa Miller has continued to be one of the most efficient players in the country (2.67 assist turnover ratio) while often matching up against larger players.

The past month of playing without Daugherty has strengthened weaknesses and polished strengths. It has provided adversity, which the Eagles have conquered. Now they are ready to soar.

Three more games remain in the regular season, and one more win would ensure home court advantage in the GLIAC tournament. Ashland also has a good shot to host the NCAA Midwest Regional for the second year in a row.

The Eagles have not lost a home game since Jan. 29, 2011, when they lost to Findlay in overtime. The streak stands at 36 games.

One of the teams that will be at both the GLIAC and regional tournaments will be Findlay, which has not lost since it last played at Kates Gymnasium. The Eagles will be ready, and they will be with a rested Daugherty.

Ashland is far from a one-woman team, but it is hard to overlook the fact that one woman on the team is the best player in the country. She is also one of the most competitive and determined athletes I have ever been around. This is her last go-round.

An injury is an injury and a loss is a loss. Neither can be overlooked and both can be difficult to come back from. But there is something in me that just can’t see Kari Daugherty losing her last college basketball game. I know that sounds cliché and it probably also sounds biased and optimistic.

But I also know this: no matter the outcome, the next month of Ashland women’s basketball is going to be special.