While you were away: the sun rose in the east and set in the west, it got increasingly colder as we head into the dead of winter in northern Ohio and the Cleveland Browns missed the playoffs… again. Oh, and Ashland women’s basketball stayed unbeaten and on top of the USA TODAY Sports Division II Coaches’ Poll.

Over winter break, the Eagles went 7-0 with an average margin of victory of 22.43 points, moving to 17-0 overall and 10-0 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.

Two wins of note were those over then unbeaten and (still) No. 5 Indianapolis (70-54) on Dec. 14 and GLIAC North leader Michigan Tech (76-66) on Jan. 5. Both came on the road.

In the Indianapolis game, senior forward Kari Daugherty and junior forward Daiva Gerbec dominated the paint.

Daugherty led all scorers with 24 points and had 13 rebounds and five assists. She also surpassed 1,000 points for her Ashland career, a feat she accomplished in an NCAA-record 46 games.

Gerbec was the game’s leading rebounder with 17 to go along with 16 points and three assists.

The Eagles killed the Greyhounds on the boards (50-25) and got solid guard play from Alyssa Miller (12 points, six rebounds and five assists), Lindsay Tenyak (five points) and Noelle Yoder (10 points), who started in place of injured sophomore Taylor Woods.

At Michigan Tech, Gerbec led everyone in scoring with 27 points and had six rebounds, earning GLIAC South Player of the Week.

Woods was back in the rotation against the Huskies had 21 points in 28 minutes off the bench.

Daugherty reached her 31st consecutive double-double with 10 points and a game-high 18 rebounds to go along with three assists and three steals.

Miller pitched in nine points, five assists and three rebounds.

At Malone on Jan. 12, Daugherty had 39 points, 19 rebounds and five assists, leading the Eagles to a 24-point win after they trailed by one at halftime.

Daugherty leads the country in rebounds per game (15), is second in the nation in points per game (22.5) and ranks 23rd in assist to turnover ratio (1.97).

She also leads the nation in double-doubles (17), a statistic in which Gerbec also ranks nationally with five.

Gerbec is seventh in field goal percentage at 58.8.

Miller is third in the country in assist to turnover ratio (2.61). Ashland leads the nation in team assist to turnover ratio at a rate of 1.54 and the Eagles are sixth in assists per game with 18.4.

Ashland is also second in team field goal percentage (47.6), 20th in free throw percentage (75.8), first in personal fouls per game (11.3), second in rebound margin (12.7), fourth in scoring margin (23.1), eighth in scoring offense (78.3 ppg), ninth in 3-point field goal percentage (38.5), third in turnovers per game (11.9) and—shockingly—first in win-loss percentage at 100 percent.

But hey, why get lost in the numbers when you can just go watch the Eagles play?

They were back in town last weekend, when they played Findlay and Hillsdale, and they travel to Ohio Dominican tonight before returning to Kates on Saturday to take on Tiffin after the men’s game, which tips off at 1 p.m.