Oilers Upset #1 Ashland, Win 66-51
The University of Findlay women's basketball team knocked off top-ranked and undefeated Ashland University by a score of 66-51 on Thursday, Feb. 14 in Croy Gymnasium.
The Oilers came out with great intensity on the defensive end of the court and took an eight point lead at 16-8 with just over nine minutes to play in the opening half. They then pushed the lead to 11 at 29-18 when senior forward Kayla Brown connected on a layup with 2:39 to play, but the Eagles came storming back to trim the deficit to five at 31-26 when the first half ended.
In the second half the Oilers continued to force the Eagles into tough shots and put the game out of reach with a few short bursts to get their lead back into double digits.
Leading by five at 47-42 with 10:51 to play in the game, the Oilers went on a 7-0 run to extend their advantage to 12 at 54-42 with just over 8:20 remaining. After trading a few buckets, junior guard Ashley Andrews drilled a three pointer with 6:04 left to make the score 57-44. The Oilers then pushed their lead to 18 on a jumper by sophomore guard Kristin Klausing with 1:43 to play and cruised to the upset victory.
The Oilers, who improved to 18-4 on the year with a 15-3 record in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play, shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the floor and held the #1 Eagles to a mere 33.9 percent (20-of-59) shooting clip. They also drained 5-of-11 (45.5%) three point shots while the Eagles were only able to connect on 2-of-20 (10%) shot attempts from long range.
Andrews led the team with 13 points, hitting all five of her shots in 18 minutes of action.
Brown tallied 12 points and four rebounds while senior forward Tai Dotson recorded nine points and six rebounds.
Klausing chipped in six points while junior guard Karli Beasley, freshman forward Margaret Wuebker, senior guard Laura Piehl and junior center Andrea Kras all had five points apiece in the victory.
The Eagles, who fell to 24-1 on the year, were led by Daiva Gerbec's 14 points and eight rebounds.
Findlay will now battle Lake Erie College on Saturday. The game is scheduled to tip at 3 p.m. in Croy Gymnasium.