BY CORA TASSET
Fort Hays State Women’s Basketball is graduating five seniors in May 2020. Lanie Paige, Taylor Rolfs, Kacey Kennett, Kyleigh Kasper, and Belle Barbieri have made a huge impact on the Women’s Basketball program and they are looking to continue that this week in the MIAA Tournament and next week at the NCAA Central Region Tournament.
“This class was extremely valuable to this program because they are so versatile and I can rely on them to play any position,” Head Coach Tony Hobson said.
These seniors currently claim 3,762 out of 9,338 points scored, 2,055 out of 5,071 rebounds, 456 out of 1,200 steals, and 213 out of 707 blocks. The average attendance for their games at Gross Memorial Coliseum is 36,545 people over the past four years.
Their freshman year they went 22-8 and were 6th in the MIAA and followed with a 26-7 mark and took 3rd in the MIAA their sophomore year, as well as making it into the NCAA Central Region Semifinals. Their junior year they took 1st in the MIAA and went 32-3. They also made it to the NCAA Central Region Finals. The Tigers are currently 22-6 and ranked 5th in the MIAA and 6th in the NCAA Central Region.
This group has won 102 out of 126 games. They have won 70 out of 76 games at Gross Memorial Coliseum and 32 out of 49 games on the road. They hope to continue their winning on the road over the next few weeks.
Taylor Rolfs was the first to commit early in the spring with the Tigers. This season Rolfs has an average of 10.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. She has been listed on the MIAA Academic honor roll since her freshman year. She currently has a total of 107 steals and 21 blocks throughout the past four years.
“Taylor has had some huge games for us over the past four years and she is just a great teammate,” Hobson said. “She is really unselfish and does so much for the team; she can really play the floor and can fill in anywhere I need her to.”
Kacey Kennett joined Fort Hays her freshman year as well. She has appeared in all 125 games since the start of her basketball career. Kennett currently has an average of 12.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. She has been on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll for the past three years. Her sophomore year she was named Honorable Mention All-MIAA, her junior year she earned second-team All-MIAA honors, and she recently earned second-team All-MIAA honors her final year as a Tiger.
“Kacey has got a high basketball IQ and a great work ethic,” Hobson said. “She brings it everyday and she’s just a good role model for the younger kids on the team. She is as tough as they come and she can really just do a little bit of everything.”
Lanie Paige started her basketball career at Kansas State University before transferring to Fort Hays. Paige was named second-team Academic All-Big 12 while she was at KSU. She was named Honorable Mention All-MIAA her sophomore year and named third-team All-MIAA her junior year. Unfortunately, Lanie suffered an injury in her senior year and only appeared in eleven games. She was averaging 8.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
“Lanie was a team player, and I hated to see her go down with an injury this season because she was having another really good year for us,” Hobson said. “She was a great addition because of how versatile she was and how well she fit with the team.”
Kyleigh Kasper was a red-shirt freshman in the 2016-17 season. She appeared in 15 games in the 2017-18 season and scored her career-high of 18 points throughout the season. Kasper has been listed on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll since her freshman year. She currently has four steals and seven blocks.
“Kyleigh has been a super person as far as showing up every day and working just as hard as everyone else does, she just doesn’t get to play as much,” Hobson explained. “She has had a great attitude and been a great kid to have on this team.”
Belle Barbieri joined Fort Hays her freshman year and has played in 113 games. She has been listed on the MIAA Academic Honor Roll the past three years as a Tiger. Barbieri averages 10.7 points and 9 rebounds per game this season. She picked up honorable mention All-MIAA honors her junior year, and just recently again her senior year. Barbieri currently has the top field goals made with 127.
“Belle’s improvement has been remarkable; she didn’t play a lot as a freshman, but she got a taste of the game as a sophomore and really just took off from there,” Hobson said. “She went from a 40% free throw shooter as a sophomore to a 68% free throw shooter as a junior and she worked really hard to improve that.”
The ladies have been working hard and are continuing their fight to be back at the top of the MIAA and pushing to be up in the rankings of the NCAA Central Region. FHSU plays its first-round MIAA tournament game against Pittsburg State on Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. from Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
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