Perfection is excruciatingly difficult to accomplish.

For 25 games this season, Ashland women’s basketball was perfect. The Eagles began the season ranked No. 1 and stayed there for 12 weeks. They had won 49 regular season games in a row and 38 straight against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference competition.

Ashland is not perfect anymore. The Eagles lost 66-51 to Findlay on Feb. 14.

Over the last two weeks, Ashland has gone 3-1 with wins over Walsh, Malone and Hillsdale, moving its record to 25-1 overall and 18-1 GLIAC. AU is ranked No.3 in the latest Division II Coaches’ Poll.

Walsh (6-13, 3-12)

It was not the pretties of games, but Ashland overcame a slow start and led for the last 33 minutes of a 76-58 win over Walsh on Feb. 7.

The Eagles trailed early, finally taking their first lead when junior guard Alyssa Miller drained a 3-pointer to make it 7-5 with 13:35 left in the first half.

AU built a 38-28 halftime advantage behind 13 points and eight rebounds from junior forward Daiva Gerbec, who finished with game-highs of 23 points and 15 boards.

Sophomore guard Taylor Woods added 13 points and four rebounds while Miller scored 10 and dished out four assists.

Junior forward Ashley Dorner also reached double digits with 10 points and six rebounds.

The Eagles outrebounded Walsh 40-27 and shot 49.1 percent (28 of 57) from the field compared to 42.1 percent (24 of 57) for the Cavaliers.

Leading the way for Walsh was Maggie Berry, who had 20 points and six rebounds.

Malone (12-8, 8-8)

What was a close game for most of the first half turned into what looked like a 3-point shooting contest between two Ashland players in a 75-55 win Feb. 9.

Woods and senior guard Lindsay Tenyak combined to make 9 of 13 3-pointers and score 39 points.

The only thing slowing Woods down was foul trouble. She scored 22 points on 5 of 6 shooting from behind the arc despite playing just 26 minutes because of four fouls.

She even made a shot in the second half that was discounted because of a late whistle.

“Taylor did a tremendous job of finding the gaps and getting that 3-point shot off,” Ramsey said.

Threatening to outshine her was Tenyak, Woods’s former Wadsworth High School teammate.

Tenyak started the game 4 of 5 from deep and finished with 4 of 7 with 17 points.

“We can see each other and we feed off of each other really well,” Tenyak said. “I’ve been playing with her for eight years now.”

The two’s sharpshooting opened up the floor for others, allowing them to produce at an efficient rate as well.

Gerbec had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds to go along with four assists. Miller was ultra-efficient, going 5 of 7 from the field for 13 points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out seven assists and turning the ball over just once.

Malone’s Logan Pastor, who scored 24 points in an 81-57 loss to the Eagles on Jan. 12, led the Pioneers with 14 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

Malone was the first team all year to outrebound the Eagles, 32-30.

At Findlay (18-4, 15-3)

Findlay came into its game against Ashland last Thursday looking for revenge after suffering a 72-41 defeat in Kates Gymnasium on Jan. 17, but the Oilers knew they would need some breaks to beat the No. 1 team in the country.

They got them.

The Oilers led from the 19:03 mark of the first half to the final buzzer, sending AU to the locker room with a loss for the first time since last year’s national championship game.

“It was almost like a perfect storm as far as everything setting up in favor of Findlay,” Ramsey said.

Playing a road game in front of loud opposing fans is somewhat new to the Eagles, and Croy Gymnasium provided just that.

The Oilers took a chance by trying to take away Ashland’s inside presence and forcing them to shoot outside shots.

The Eagles came into the game third in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage at 40.4 percent. They went 2 of 20 from behind the arc Thursday at Findlay.

Overall, Ashland had its worst shooting performance of the season, going 20 of 59 for a percentage of 33.9.

Findlay employed a full-court press and a rotating matchup zone in the half court, closing out hard on Ashland’s shooters after it passed the ball around the arc.

“Had we done a better job of maybe faking the shot and going around the close-out, we could have gotten some of those 15-foot jump shots,” Ramsey said.

Another thing Findlay did was get the Eagles’ main inside presence, Gerbec, into foul trouble. She played 28 minutes and had 14 points and eight rebounds. She was the only starter to shoot 50 percent (6 of 12).

“We needed to get the ball inside more,” Ramsey said. “Every time it went inside, Daiva either scored or something good came out of it.”

Dorner was the only other Eagle to reach double figures, scoring 10 points and grabbing seven boards. Woods and Miller each scored eight points, but both were well under their shooting percentage averages.

When Ashland did threaten to get back into the game, coming within three in the second half, Findlay responded by clamping down defensively and hitting big shots.

“Right when we were ready to go on one of our typical runs, it didn’t happen,” Ramsey said.

Leading the way for Findlay were Ashley Andrews and Kayla Brown, who had 13 and 12 points respectively, but the main culprit was depth.

Ten players played double digit minutes and ten players—not the same ten—scored.

After the game, everyone in the AU locker room took ownership for the loss and talked about ways the team can improve.

“I continue to be amazed at the maturity level and the love and the passion and the desire these young ladies have for each other and the success of the team,” Ramsey said. “Everyone’s on the same page.”

At Hillsdale (9-13, 6-13)

After the loss, Ashland re-focused and put together one of its finest performances of the season at Hillsdale in an 83-57 blowout.

“I could not be more pleased with the individual and team effort that we saw at Hillsdale,” Ramsey said.

Woods and Miller went back to their scoring ways. Woods had 23 points and went 5 of 8 from 3-point land, while Miller was a perfect 4 of 4 from behind the arc and had 20 points.

“(Miller) started off the game on fire and I think that really helped the confidence of our team, saying ‘Ok, we didn’t shoot it well (against Findlay), but we’re gonna shoot it well today,’” Ramsey said.

Woods also had eight rebounds and Miller dished out four assists.

Gerbec stayed out of foul trouble and went for 20 points and eight rebounds.

In addition, she shut down the Chargers’ leading scorer, Megan Fogt, holding her to four points and five rebounds in 26 minutes.

“The defense from Daiva was just absolutely amazing,” Ramsey said.

Ashland shot 49.1 (28 of 57) percent from the field, 57.1 percent (12 of 21) from deep and 88.2 percent (15 of 17) from the free throw line.

Up next, the Eagles return home for Senior Night at 7:30 p.m. tonight against Ohio Dominican.

Then they head to Tiffin (3 p.m. Saturday) and Lake Erie (3 p.m. March 2) to finish the regular season.