If you’re planning to travel with our Ashland Eagles on their tournament run, we want to talk to you. Drop us a line at news@ashlandsource.com or fill out this quick form.
ASHLAND — There are certain characteristics Ashland coach Kari Pickens looks for when recruiting a lead guard — and Sohia Niese checks all the boxes.
A Shelby High School product, Niese is a true freshman for the unbeaten Eagles. AU (34-0) will play the University of Texas at Tyler in the NCAA Division II national quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Monday in St. Joseph, Missouri.
While playing time has been hard to come by for Niese — she has appeared in 25 games, averaging five minutes per contest — her passion for the game has never wavered. She’s often the first one off the bench to celebrate with teammates during timeouts or when the final horn sounds.
“We look for kids who are great teammates,” said Pickens, who was selected the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Division II Coach of the Year on Friday. “If things aren’t going their way, are they keeping their heads up?
“That championship mindset and culture is hard to teach, so we try to recruit kids who already have it and Sophia has it.”
The 5-foot-5 Niese, who led Shelby to the Elite Eight as a senior, averages 1.2 points per game. She scored a career-best five points at Ursuline in early-February, but saw only limited action in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and Midwest Regional tournaments.
“When I go home people will ask me how it’s going and I’ll say, ‘My team is undefeated,’ ” Niese said after practice Thursday at Kates Gymnasium. “We’re a team and we’re all chasing the same goal.”
The transition from high school to college basketball is a significant one. To make it for a program that harbors national championship aspirations year after year is a big ask, but Niese invites the challenge.
“It’s a big jump from high school to college, but I’ve grown a lot as a player since this time last year,” Niese said. “There are some similarities between high school and college. Our high school team was a very close team and it’s the same here. That is one of the reasons I came to Ashland. It’s a small community.
“In terms of basketball, everything is faster. Everyone is taller and stronger, but if you play to your strengths you can do well.”
By all accounts, Niese has done well.
“Sophia has been awesome,” Pickens said. “She’s a great teammate. She’s really versatile and I think she has really developed this year.
“She’s not gotten a ton of minutes on the court, but she goes up against some of the best players in the country every day in practice. She’s put in the work and I’m excited to see how she develops.”
Ashland is chasing its third national championship after winning it all in 2013 and 2017. The Eagles were ranked No. 1 for the last 10 weeks of this season.
“Sometimes it’s hard to block out all of the distractions and just focus on basketball,” Niese said. “It’s super-cool to have all of this attention, but at the end of the day it’s about the girls in our huddle and the the goals we are chasing.”
Niese and her Shelby teammates always had an enthusiastic fan base in their corner. The support the AU women’s program receives is like that, only on steroids.
“Shelby had loyal fans, but then you go to Ashland and you multiply it by 10,” Niese said. “These fans traveled to Missouri for a regular-season tournament in November (the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center Thanksgiving Classic in Springfield) that, in the long-run, meant nothing. Those are the same people who are going back to Missouri with us next week.
“We’re here to make a positive impact on everybody and chase a national championship every single year and there’s nobody better to do it with.”
