The 2011-12 Ashland women’s basketball season has been one to remember. The team has won 33 straight games and will play for the national championship 8 p.m. tonight in San Antonio. Over the last three weeks, the Eagles hosted and won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and NCAA Midwest Regional tournaments for the first time ever.

These are games that should be savored and remembered by everyone in the Ashland community. Remember the great plays. Remember the high fives. Remember the milestones. Most of all, savor the moments that have made this team so much fun to watch.

There were so many big moments that led to Ashland’s 71-51 victory over Alaska-Anchorage Tuesday in the Elite Eight in San Antonio.

After a back-and-forth, Kaci Finfrock came in and drained a 3-pointer with 9:50 left in the first half that sparked a 14-5 AU run going into halftime. After the Eagles had their lead cut to three (43-40 with 11:50 remaining), Lindsay Tenyak hit a huge “3” to push it back to six. That sparked a 19-2 run that put the game out of reach.

Tenyak finished five of six from deep and had 17 points. Jena Stutzman finished six of 11 from the field and led the team with 18 points. Kari Daugherty had 14 points and 13 rebounds for her 16th straight double-double.

To be honest, I had to look every single bit of that information up. Like most of Eagle Nation, I spent the game huddled in front of a computer screen, relying on an on-again-off-again internet connection to watch.

I may not remember some of the moments from the game, but I will always remember what happened following it. After jokingly suggesting throughout the game that we should hop in the car and drive to San Antonio for the Final Four, photographer Dan Shade, managing editor Justine Ackerman and I did exactly that.

The 20-hour trip in Justine’s white Ford Fusion (nicknamed “Peeta”) included five stops for gas and food (Columbus, Louisville, Ky., Memphis, Tenn., just across the Texas border and Waco) and very little sleep for any of us. We made it safely, rolling into San Antonio around 3:30 p.m., three-and-a-half hours before tipoff. After checking into our hotel and showering, we made our way to Bill Geehey Arena for the Final Four game against Bentley.

We were glad to be there, but there was no “glad to be there” mentality on the floor for the Eagles. They began the game by playing ferocious defense and making shots from everywhere, which have two staples during their 33-game winning streak.

Ashley Dorner opened the scoring by draining an 18-foot jump shot from the top of the key, Stutzman drove to the hole to make it 4-0 and before the Falcons knew what had hit them they were down 15-2 just over four minutes into the game.

Stutzman got off to a particularly fast start. Following her layup in the opening minutes, she drove in for another to make it 8-2, grabbed a rebound and threw a perfect long-range chest pass to Tenyak for a layup and drained two 3-pointers, one from the left wing and the other from the left corner.

Ten points. One super assist. All in just over seven minutes of play that were enough to say that the Eagles were not satisfied with just a trip to the Elite Eight or the Final Four.

Of course, the Falcons made their runs and Ashland needed the stellar play of Daugherty, a huge “3” by Stutzman going into halftime and big plays from the rest of the team on both ends of the floor to survive, but there was simply no denying the Eagles a trip to the national championship Wednesday night.

The win also meant that Dan, Justine and I did not have to pack up and leave Thursday morning. As we instead sat down to a Mexican lunch on San Antonio’s famed Riverwalk, life could not have been much sweeter.

A mariachi band was playing in the background; we were eating some of the best Mexican food any of us had ever had while sitting in the warm Texas sun; fellow staffers Tyler Remmel and Glenn Battishill informed us that they had successfully sent the paper off to be printed; we had an entire day in front of us to explore one of the most beautiful cities in the world; most importantly, we were less than 48 hours from covering our school as it competes in the Division II women’s basketball national championship.

Taking off to San Antonio on a whim may have been a rash decision, but it was rationalized in that moment. In fact, at this point I feel like it would have been irrational to not see this team’s run to the end, no matter what lengths (1400 miles) we had to go to.

SAN ANTONIO —

As the two teams stood on the court, huddled together before the beginning of the Final Four game in San Antonio, the letters “A-U” already rang out from the crowd. Almost everyone in the stands was wearing purple and terrible towels with the Ashland University logo on them flapped wildly above the heads of the faculty, staff and parents who had made the 1,400-mile trek one way or another.

Fred and Holly Finks sat right behind the players’ bench, joining the other Eagle fans in a literal wall of support. Signs bounced up and down: “Ramsey for President,” “Making it look easy #KariDaugherty,” “Kent State called, they want their all-star back. #10,” and “It’s Miller Time.”

The crowd shouted for rebounds, for defense, for baskets, until finally they just roared. Ashland University didn’t have a very large crowd, but they had a loud one. And tonight, they were apart of this team too.

A moment happened in the first half of the game that really stuck with me. Kari Daugherty was running down the court, getting back on defense, when she pointed at an open Bentley player and shouted for Tenyak to guard her. Tenyak saw, responded, and the girl missed her shot. It was a brilliantly clear moment that showed how much of a team the Lady Eagles are. They always have each other’s backs. The amount of observation and preparation each girl brings to the court is always shared with their teammates. They look out for each other, take care of each other and in the end, they all end up winners. Literally.

As the game continued, it became clear that Bentley hadn’t been rattled, but they weren’t confident either. As they went on a hot streak, the crowd screamed their support. The Eagles never needed to feel naked or alone. People believed in them.

As the first half drew to a close, Bentley went on a 14-0 run, gaining momentum and discouraging the spectators. The crowd grew quieter, worried about what the future half would hold.

But now, it was time for the basketball players to encourage the spectators, and as the seconds clicked down to zero, Stutzman hit a three that threw the crowd back into a frenzy. Everyone from Ashland was working together to make sure that we had the best team in San Antonio.

During the second half, there was a small moment where it looked like Coach Ramsey was going to have a heart attack, she was so short of breath. She was playing just as hard as her girls. And while I’m not even going to pretend like I’m playing these games or acting as a team member, I am a witness. We all have been witness. And I think we’ve been left breathless too.

SAN ANTONIO — Great players play great in big games.

Never was that saying truer than in Ashland’s 77-62 victory over Bentley in the NCAA Division II Women’s Final Four in San Antonio. The win propels the Eagles into the national championship game, which will be 8 p.m. Friday against Shaw (N.C.).

Junior All-American forward Kari Daugherty tied a career high with 31 points, grabbed 22 rebounds – one shy of tying a tournament record – and dished out six assists while senior guard Jena Stutzman had 22 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Eagles.

Stutzman started the game on fire, scoring seven points and dishing out an assist in transition before the first media timeout as Ashland took a 15-2 lead.

The Eagles were looking good, and after Daugherty scored eight points over a span of just over three minutes they led 33-13 with 6:33 to play in the first half.

Just as Bentley did in an 18-point comeback against nationally-ranked no. 1 Wayne State (Neb.), the Falcons fought back to within five before the half was over.

Just when it looked like the momentum was shifting Bentley’s way, Stutzman made one of the defining plays of her career. She held the ball between the center circle and the 3-point line as the clock wound down at the end of the first half.

“I was going to try to get some penetration and just try to get a jump shot off or a dish to the post, but then she backed off me so I was like, ‘Ooh, I’m just gonna let it fly,’” Stutzman said.

The ball flew straight through the bottom of the net for three points that put the Eagles up 38-30 going into halftime and did a lot to raise their morale going into the second half.

“That was huge going into halftime,” Daugherty said. “It really gave us the momentum going into the second half.”

Bentley opened the second half with two quick baskets that cut the lead to four and would cut it to three (40-37) with just under two minutes gone. That would be as close as the Falcons would come, however. The Eagles used stingy defense, a rebounding edge of 11 and – as always – excellent free throw shooting (14 of 16) to hold off another Bentley comeback.

“I think one great thing about our team is that we never get shaken,” Stutzman said. “We never get down, we’re confident in each other, we’re always huddling on the floor, we’re always saying ‘defense and rebounding, defense and rebounding’ because you can’t win games trading baskets with a team.”

The Eagles also got big shots on the offensive end from players other than Stutzman and Daugherty, especially once the Falcons began pouring players onto Daugherty when she caught the ball in the post. She repeatedly found the open player, leading to clutch shots from junior forward Beth Mantkowski, sophomore guard Alyssa Miller and sophomore forward Ashley Dorner.

“Alyssa and Ashley and everyone relocated to a spot where it was easy to hit them,” Duagherty said. It wasn’t that hard, all I had to do was turn and they were right there and they were able to knock down some shots.

“It was just a great overall team game. We could not have beaten a team of that caliber without everyone playing their best basketball.”

Miller finished with eight points, six rebounds and five assists, Dorner had ten points and four rebounds and Mantkowski had two points and two rebounds in ten minutes.

With just over three minutes left and the Eagles up by 10, Daugherty hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. On Ashland’s next possession, Stutzman hit another “3” from the exact same spot and just like that the game was out of reach.

The focus now shifts to the national championship. Just like Ashland, Shaw has never won a national title. That will change come Friday night. No matter what happens, however, there is only one player who will be playing her last game in an Ashland uniform.

“This has been our goal all year, and I feel so blessed to get to play my last game in the national championship,” Stutzman said. “I couldn’t ask for a better team and better coaches, and it’s an amazing feeling.”