As most of the students at Asbury University went home for Christmas Break, the winter sports teams were still up and running. The men’s basketball team started off on the right foot with a large win over Boyce College (105-48). This win broke a six-game losing streak and was also Coach Will Shouse’s 200th victory as head coach at Asbury University.
The following Thursday, the Eagles returned for a home game versus Union. It was hard-fought as the Eagles recovered from a 26-point deficit, but unfortunately lost in overtime (96-88). The Eagles lost the following three games over the break to Thomas More University (87-67), Indiana University East (75-97) and Ohio Christian University (81-86). On Jan. 16, the team had their first game of the new semester; unfortunately, it was a 79-84 loss to Midway University.
The women’s basketball team went 2-3 over the break with wins over Grace College (96-85) and OCU (89-78). Freshman Zaria Naiper had a career high of 35 points to help Asbury win against OCU. She also won River States Conference player of the week for the second time on Jan. 13; she averaged 27.5 points per game and 6.5 rebounds during the IU East and OCU games. The team lost three games to Morehead State (55-107) on Dec. 19, Berea (75-78) on Jan. 3 and IU East on Jan. 17 (74-86).
The swim team had a successful break. At the Centre Classic, Asbury’s men placed third overall, and the women placed fourth. Sophomore Alex Wu had three individual wins (200 IM, 100 Butterfly and 200 Butterfly) that earned him the Appalachian Athletic Conference swimmer of the week award for the third time this year.
Freshman Haden Hebenstreit won first place in the 200 Backstroke and second in the 400 IM. Freshman Lillie Lewis placed third in the 200 Breaststroke and junior Hannah Springer came in third in the 100 Breaststroke. Junior Ronan Passman placed second in the men’s 100 and 200 Breaststroke. Senior Clay Bisher placed third in the 100 Backstroke and freshman Tommy Johnson finished third in the 200 freestyle. In the 1650 Freestyle, Asbury took two of the top three spots with freshman Trent Holladay in second and sophomore Caleb Reams in third.
The men’s swim team was also notably ranked at eighth in polls by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
