Ashland Women's Basketball Weekly Report
February 28, 2006

By Paul Carmany, AU Sports Information

This Week’s Game
Tuesday, Feb. 28—Wayne State (10-16, 7-10 GLIAC) at Ashland (19-9, 13-4 GLIAC)—5:30 p.m. (GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal game)
(Because this is a GLIAC Tournament game, no passes will be honored on Tuesday. For ticket information, call the AU Athletic Department at 419-289-5441.)

Opening Tip
For the first time in nine years, the Ashland University women’s basketball team was able to celebrate a victory during its ride home from Findlay. A 16-0 second-half run broke open a close game and gave the Eagles a long-anticipated win over their in-state rivals.

AU, which finished with the most Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) wins in school history, 13, enters the GLIAC Tournament on a three-game winning streak. For the third straight season, Ashland will host an opening-round game in the conference tournament. The Eagles’ opponent on Tuesday night (Feb. 28) at Kates Gymnasium will be the fourth seed from the GLIAC South Division, Wayne State.

The winner of Tuesday’s game will advance to the GLIAC Final Four, to be hosted by the top remaining seed on Friday and Saturday (March 3-4). Right now, Grand Valley State is in position to host those contests.

Ashland, ranked eighth in the Great Lakes region a week ago, could use at least one conference tournament win to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume. The winner of the GLIAC Tournament will earn an automatic bid to the “Big Dance,” while the rest of the GLIAC teams will hope for at-large bids.

AU Head Coach Sue Ramsey
Sue Ramsey is in her 11th season at Ashland. She is the winningest coach in school history at 169-135 (.556) and has led the Eagles to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time. She has guided Ashland to five GLIAC South Division titles, including the last three in a row. AU made its first trip to the NCAA Division II Tournament in the 2003-04 season under Ramsey’s direction. She is 264-263 (.501) in 19 years as a collegiate head coach. Her first eight seasons were spent at Dayton.

Soaring Eagles
Junior guard Amber Rall (Bucyrus, OH/Wynford) scored a game-high 22 points at Findlay. She broke the AU single-season scoring record, previously held by Tammi Scott. Rall has tallied 511 points this season and 1,446 for her career. The junior is 30 points away from passing Vickie Schmitz (1987-90) for second place on the AU career scoring list.

Sophomore forward Lynsey Warren (Worthington, OH/Bishop Watterson) came off the bench to post 15 points and grab five rebounds on Saturday. Eleven of her points came in the first half, enabling the Eagles to build a 12-point halftime advantage.

Sophomore guard/forward Lisa Graue (Dayton, OH/Wayne) totaled eight points and 11 rebounds against Findlay. She now has 230 boards this season, a figure that is tied for fifth on Ashland’s single-season rebounding list. Graue has been in double digits in rebounds in four of her last five outings.

Freshman forward Betsy Morrison (Gahanna, OH/Lincoln) contributed 10 points, six rebounds and three assists on Saturday. The freshman has stepped up her game as the season has progressed. Morrison is averaging 9.0 ppg., 6.0 rpg., and 2.7 apg., in the last three games.

Around the GLIAC
Below are the other three GLIAC quarterfinal games scheduled for Tuesday evening:

• (4N) Ferris State at (1N) Grand Valley State—6 p.m.
• (3S) Gannon at (2S) Hillsdale—7 p.m.
• (3N) Lake Superior State at (2N) Michigan Tech—7 p.m.

GLIAC and National Stat Leaders

• Rall is the GLIAC’s leading scorer (18.3 ppg.) and ranks sixth in free throw percentage (.815).
• Graue ranks second in the conference in both rebounds (8.2 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.4) and is third in steals (2.5 spg.), ninth in field goal percentage (.497) and 10th in free throw percentage (.806).
• Portyrata’s field goal percentage (.618) is the second-best figure in the GLIAC and the fifth-best in the nation.
• As a team, AU leads the conference in field goal percentage (.478) and ranks sixth in the nation. The Eagles are second in the GLIAC in rebounding margin (+6.9).

Inside the Paint (GLIAC Tournament edition)

• AU is 4-7 in its seven conference tournament appearances.
• The Eagles are 2-0 at home in GLIAC Tournament games and are 36-5 in their last 41 appearances at Kates Gymnasium.
• Ashland is 1-1 when facing GLIAC South Division opponents in the conference tournament.
• Kates Gymnasium is the only GLIAC venue to host a GLIAC women’s basketball tournament first round game in each of the past three seasons.

Ramsey on the Record

“We did a nice job of making adjustments on the defensive end during the game. Findlay was running a lot of set plays and we defended them well. We did a better job running our half court motion offense. At the beginning of the second half, our defense didn’t allow them any easy looks at the basket and that led to a number of transition points for us. Finally, we were able to take good care of the basketball.”

On preparing to face Wayne State for the third time this season

“Wayne State is extremely athletic. They are going to show us a lot of different things defensively. Our ability to recognize what they’re doing and to react to it will be important. We need to be sharp on our rebounding and need to defend the three-pointer.”