Findlay (11-4, 8-3)

Despite a 31-point win over conference rival Findlay last Thursday, there was still cause for concern from Ashland players, coaches and fans.

The Eagles started the game on a 20-0 run over the first 5:13 and led 43-20 at halftime on the way to a 72-41 victory, but many were left thinking only about a moment that happened near the end of the first half.

With 2:51 to go in the period and Ashland up 40-18, senior forward and leading scorer and rebounder Kari Daugherty was left hobbling after hustling for a rebound and knocking knees with a Findlay player.

“Collective breaths were held,” head coach Sue Ramsey said.

She was helped off the court and into the locker room. She did not return to the game, though she did try to warm up after halftime and spent the second half on the bench with a bag of ice wrapped around her knee.

The knee in question is Daugherty’s left, on which she had an MRI on Monday.

A close family friend tweeted that it was a sprain and she would miss approximately two to three weeks.

At the moment, her return is officially labeled as indefinite.

The injury attempted to overshadow those opening five minutes, which were close to a work of art.

The Eagles made five of their first seven attempts from the field and were 2 of 2 from the free throw line.

That would have been tough for the Oilers to match if Ashland had not been playing defense, but AU fought for every inch.

“It was the defense today,” Ramsey said. “The offense obviously comes off that, but we were just pinpoint on everything we wanted to do, how we wanted to stop them.”

The Eagles used balanced scoring from all five starters, with each in double digits.

The backcourt of juniors Lindsay Tenyak and Alyssa Miller and sophomore Taylor Woods were especially lethal, draining 9 of 18 attempts from 3-point land.

Tenyak led the way with 16 points on 4 of 9 shooting from behind the arc. Miller had 14 points and six assists and Woods added 13 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Junior forward Daiva Gerbec had a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 19 rebounds.

Daugherty went for 10 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 16 first-half minutes, but the injury brought an end to her NCAA Division-record streak of 34 consecutive games with a double-double.

No Findlay player reached double digits, including senior guard Kayla Brown, who was held well below her season average of 18.2 ppg. She and Alyssa Grevenkamp led the Oilers with eight.

Tenyak and Miller were charged with the task of guarding Brown, but it was a total team effort to shut her down.

“I can’t tell you how many times in the first half there was great help defense,” Ramsey said.

The win was Ashland’s 18th of the season and marked the team’s 43rd consecutive regular season win and 32nd straight in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular season play.

It was also the 400th win of head coach Sue Ramsey’s illustrious career.

“It’s truly a blessing,” she said.

Hillsdale (6-9, 3-9)

Ramsey often says that rebounding wins championships.

With Daugherty—the national leader in rebounds per game—out for Saturday’s game against Hillsdale, she stressed the importance of going after rebounds more than ever.

The Eagles responded and beat the Chargers 80-51 to remain unbeaten at 19-0 and 12-0 in the GLIAC.

The 29-point margin was thanks in large part to a 46-20 rebounding advantage. Gerbec led the team with 15 of them, but some new faces stepped up to get the ones that Daugherty normally pulls down.

Junior guard Noelle Yoder and sophomore forward Melanie Poorman each came off the bench and grabbed seven boards.

Poorman’s performance included three rebounds in under a minute, which brought the crowd to its feet.

“Mel gave us great hustle plays,” Ramsey said. “That’s the thing, when there’s a loose ball, when there’s a possible jump ball situation, she just went and got it, as did Noelle.”

Just like against Findlay, all five starters scored in double figures, with Gerbec leading the way with 20 points.

Miller had 12 points, seven assists and three rebounds, Tenyak had 11 points and four rebounds, Woods scored 10 and dished out five assists and Dorner had 10 points and three assists.

Yoder and Poorman added offense as well, scoring nine and six points respectively in just over 20 minutes of action.

“Kari averages 22.5 points and 15.5 rebounds,” Ramsey said. “No one individual has to make that up, but the whole team does.”

The Chargers hung around until the 10:40 mark in the first half, when the Eagles began a 16-0 run over the next nine minutes, ending with a 3-pointer by Tenyak that made it 37-18.

Hillsdale cut the gap to seven at 52-45 with 9:38 to go, but the Eagles closed on a 28-6 run that was sparked by two straight “3s” by Woods and included back-to-back treys from Yoder, who scored all nine of her points in the second half.

“We don’t ever panic, which is a nice thing,” Ramsey said. “That’s a tribute to our leaders.”