Local Sports from The Courier

Monday, March 11, 2013

College basketball: Ashland tops UF women in GLIAC tourney final
By JAKE DOWLING

staff writer

ASHLAND -- The University of Findlay women's basketball team lost 68-49 to Ashland University on Sunday in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament final at Ashland.

Ashland opened the game by draining four straight 3-pointers and took a 17-5 lead.

"To be able to start the way we did today against them was key, because we knew that no lead is safe against them," Ashland coach Sue Ramsey said.

The Eagles shot 46 percent from the field and 53 percent from the 3-point line in the first half.

The Oilers were able to hang around with a 13-6 run, but Ashland answered with a 13-6 run of its own and led 40-26 at the half.

Ashland (31-1) finished as the top team in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region and will host the regional tournament this weekend. Findlay (24-5) received the No. 3 seed and will play GLIAC foe and No. 6 Wayne State (20-8) on Friday. The tipoff time will be determined today.

"After playing here a few times now this season and coming back here next week, we will be used to playing here come tournament time," UF coach Kate Cummings said.

Ashland's tough defense -- the Eagles forced 21 turnovers -- frustrated the Oilers on Sunday.

"We weren't able to get into the flow of our offense," Cummings said. "We rely on forcing turnovers and taking the ball the other way, and you know when you play Ashland that is just not going to happen."

In the first nine minutes of the second half, the Eagles reeled off a 17-4 run to assume firm control of the game.

"I thought it was a good effort, (but) we had a stretch in the second half where we were frustrated and fell apart," Cummings said. "They shot much better today, and we were just a little too slow in our rotations. Playing back to back days doesn't help."

That was not a problem for the Eagles.

"It's really a tribute to these young ladies to be able to play back to back games," Ramsey said. "I think it's a mental state of mind, being able to be mentally tough and play an up-tempo team like Findlay and still keep them under 50 points."

The Oilers had some life in the second half with a 10-3 run, but Ashland put the clamps down on the Oilers offense much of the day.

Junior guard Ashley Andrews and senior guard Kendra Elam each scored nine points for the Oilers. Freshmen forward Margaret Wuebker added eight points and nine rebounds.

However, senior forward Kayla Brown did not record a bucket until the 3:08 mark of the first half. The Riverdale graduate, named a first-team all-GLIAC selection on Friday, did finish with a team-high 13 points, about 5 points shy of her season average.

"We weren't able to give her easy looks and, playing a team for the third time, they're going to know what you're doing," Cummings said. "They defended the ball screens differently, but we didn't have the confidence to throw the ball to where it needed to go."

The Eagles' defense stepped up to slow down one of the top scorers in the GLIAC after Brown scored a game-high 23 points the night before.

"I didn't really guard Kayla a whole lot," said Ashland senior forward Kari Daugherty. "I think it was more of a team effort, because we switched players on them and I don't think they are used to seeing that."

Daugherty finished with 17 points.

"When she catches the ball she doesn't miss, and you're always paying extra attention to Kari opening somebody else up," Cummings said. "We didn't plan on double-teaming her; we just really tried to cover up the inside as much as possible."

The Eagles had four players finish in double figures. Senior forward Daiva Gerbec led the Eagles with a double-double scoring 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

"I was able to not let them get around me in the post and when they did, there was always somebody there to help so it made things a lot easier," Gerbec said.



FINDLAY (24-5)

Wuebker 1-5 6-8 8, Dotson 2-4 0-0 4, Brown 5-9 3-4 13, Andrews 2-5 4-8 9, Elam 3-9 0-0 9, Maggert 0-1 0-0 0, Beasley 0-4 2-2 2, Kenny 0-0 0-0 0, Klausing 0-2 0-0 0, Kessler 0-2 0-0 0, Grevenkamp 0-1 0-0 0, Piehl 104 0-0 2, Lewis 1-2 0-0 2, Kras 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-49 15-22--49.

ashland (31-1)

Gerbec 4-9 10-11 18, Daugherty 7-16 2-2 17, Miller 4-9 0-0 9, Tenyak 4-8 0-1 11, Woods 4-12 0-1 11, Laporte 0-0 0-0 0, Poorman 1-2 0-0 2, Yoder 0-3 0-0 0, Finfrock 0-0 0-0 0, Dorner 0-0 0-0 0, Mantkowski 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 24-59 12-15--68.

3-Point GOALS: Findlay 4-18 (Brown 0-3, Andrews 1-2, Elam 3-7, Maggert 0-1, Beasley 0-2, Grevenkamp 0-1, Piehl 0-2); Ashland 8-24 (Daugherty 1-3, Miller 1-5, Tenyak 3-6, Woods 3-8, Yoder 0-2).

rebounds: Findlay 39 (Wuebker 9, Kessler 5); Ashland 38 (Gerbec 10, Miller 6).

ASSISTS: Findlay 8 (Andrews 3); Ashland 20 (Woods 10, Miller 4). STEALS: Findlay 7 (Brown 4); Ashland 13 (Gerbec 5). BLOCKS: Findlay 4, Ashland 5. TURNOVERS: Findlay 21, Ashland 14. TOTAL FOULS:Findlay 15, Ashland 15. FOULED OUT: none.

HALFTIME: Ashland, 40-26.


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