The Ashland University’s Women’s Basketball team is currently ranked as the number one team in the country and with the team only consisting of twelve girls, the four freshmen had no choice but to hit the ground running. 

Sara Loomis, Jodi Johnson, Renee Stimpert, and Baylee Kuhlwein  are the newest additions to the championship seeking team which has been ranked number one in the country for six straight weeks now. 

“The level of competition has increased a lot, and everyone comes from different towns and programs so they have different talents and skill sets,” Loomis said. “It is nice to be on a team where everyone has the same goal and focus.” 

Each of these girls were four-time varsity letter winners in high school and are continuing to challenge themselves against their upperclassmen teammates. 

“I feel that I am growing as a player everyday because I get to go up against great competition like Laina Snyder, Julie Worley, and Andi Daugherty,” Loomis said. 

Loomis’s Basketball prep postseason awards included special mention All-Ohio, Inter-Valley Conference Player of the Year, first-team All-District 5 and first-team All-IVC. 

She has also set new school standards for best field-goal percentage in a season, most foul shots in a game and most rebounds in a season while in high school. 

The freshmen have had to adjust to playing with new teammates as opposed to their high school ones that they grew up with.

“It’s cool to have a whole new set of girls to play with! Especially with how good everyone is.  We all have made each other so much better,” Johnson said.

They have wasted no time getting close with the other girls on the team and that bond has only intensified over the season.

 “We have so much energy and we love to play and compete with one another,” Johnson said.  “It makes every game and practice very fun. This team has a special bond.”

Johnson, out of Wadsworth, Ohio,  earned Cleveland.com Player of the Year honors during her senior year and was named Associated Press Northeast Inland All-District Division I Player of the Year and Division I All-Ohio co-Player of the year the same year.

She has also led her team to an Ohio Division I state championship and finished her prep career with 1,541 career points and was first-team All-Ohio as both junior and senior. 

All of the basketball players at AU have had very successful high school careers, but the most decorated player is Renee Stimpert. 

She ended her prep career with 2,305 career points, and a high of 54 points in a single game. 

Career point total unofficially would be 15th all-time in the state of Ohio. 

She also hit 72 3-point field goals in a season and seven triples in a game

She was also a two-time first-team All-Ohio selection, two-time Northwest District and District 6 Player of the Year, four-time first-team All-Firelands Conference and Player of the Year for the Ashland Times-Gazette, Mansfield News Journal and Richland Source.

These girls spend lot of time with each other both on and off the court in order to form remarkable relationship that carries over onto the court.

“Our relationships between each other are fun, yet sincere and caring,” Kuhlwein said. “When someone is ill, we check up on one another to see how they are doing. But we aren’t always serious, we like to joke around with each other too.”

Kuhlwein’s Prep honors included all-Central District honorable mention, Pickaway County all-league and first-, second-team and honorable mention All-Mid-State League.

“Basketball has impacted and influenced my life in a multitude of ways. The most important being that I have met some of my best friends and established some of the greatest relationships in my life through basketball,” Kuhlwein said.