Ashland, Ohio – The University of Findlay women's basketball team saw its' 2023-24 campaign come to an end in the first round of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Tournament on Tuesday, March 5. Playing the top-ranked team in the country for the second time in four days, the Oilers came up shy at #1 Ashland University by a score of 66-44. That defeat ends the year for UF with a record of 14-15 while the Eagles move on with an impressive 28-1 mark on the year.
Last Saturday, Findlay came within five points of Ashland in Kates Gymnasium and actually had an opportunity to pull of the team's first win against the Eagles since 2015. On Tuesday, however, that same opportunity did not present itself as the Oilers would not lead at any point during the contest.
Early on, the game was tied at 6-6 after a layup by sophomore Alyssa Ziehler, but the home team rattled off 13 consecutive points, the final nine of which came from beyond the three-point arc.
The score never got back to single digits after that as Ashland continued to do what it has done to teams for the better part of a decade as they suffocated the Oilers with intense defense and also made shot-after-shot, controlling the game on both ends.
The Oilers did put together a solid fourth quarter in which they outscored Ashland 18-to-12, but it was not enough as the home team went on to win, earning a trip to the G-MAC Semifinals.
Findlay shot 16-of-50 (32%) from the floor including hitting just 2-of-12 (17%) from three-point range while Ashland, which shot 63% in the first quarter, finished at just 40% for the game (23-of-58) that included 12-of-37 (32%) from three.
A big factor in the game was Ashland's effort on the offensive glass. The Eagles had 11 offensive rebounds and scored 19 second chance points which helped lead to eight more shot attempts for the home team than the Oilers.
Ziehler led the offense for Findlay as she scored 14 points on 6-of-12 from the floor. She also had four rebounds while senior Kate Ellis led the team with five boards and chipped in nine points.
Playing her final game for the Orange and Black, senior Lauren Hapgood, who exited the game with just over a minute to play, collecting hugs from her teammates down the length of the bench, scored eight points and hit a pair of triples. She also had four steals in the game. Hapgood ends her career with 544 points with 124 three-pointers made.
Junior Janae Hoying and freshman MacKenzie Schulz both finished with four points.
Last season, the first of head coach Michele Durand's tenure, the Oilers won just seven games. Now, in year two, Findlay doubled that win total, collecting 14 victories and a berth in the G-MAC Tournament.
