HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State plays its final home game of the regular season on Saturday (Feb. 20) when it hosts Lincoln University. Four seniors that have had a tremendous impact on the program, Beth Bohuslavsky, Paige Lunsford, Chelsea Mason, and Elle Stein, will be recognized prior to the game. Game time is set for 2 pm.
Beth Bohuslavsky and Paige Lunsford are the two four-year seniors on this year’s team. They share the school record for wins by players over a four-year span, helping the team to an amazing 95-22 mark in their time with the program.
Bohuslavsky has been a model of consistency throughout her career at Fort Hays State, one of the top point guards in the history of the program. She now has 861 points, 361 assists, and 344 rebounds in her career entering Saturday. She ranks fourth all-time in assists at FHSU and ball control has been her forte as the team’s floor general. As a sophomore, she ranked third nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.69) and as a junior ranked sixth nationally (2.48). She is also in the top 10 list for career steals (148) and free-throws made (293) at FHSU.
Lunsford has seen her role with the Tigers evolve over four years, going from a sound role player early in her career to a great all-around threat. Lunsford has seen her scoring average rise from 1.4 points per game as a freshman, to 2.6 as a sophomore, 4.9 as a junior, and now 10.9 as a senior. She has been a tremendous asset to the team defensively with 360 rebounds and 85 steals in her career. Lunsford has scored 544 points in her career, with over half of those points this year.
Mason is in her third year with the Tigers after she spent one year at Kennesaw State (Ga.) University. One of the top scorers on the team in her three years, Mason became the 18th women’s player to reach 1,000 career points at FHSU earlier this season and now has 1,131 to rank 13th on the all-time list. She has averaged 12.9 points per game in her career and has 163 3-point field goals to her credit, which ranks third on the all-time list at FHSU. Mason has helped the team to a record of 73-15 in her time at FHSU.
Stein is in her second year with the Tigers after playing two years at Pratt (Kan.) Community College. She has been instrumental in helping the team to a record of 52-7 as a key reserve. With 209 points (3.5 per game) and 186 rebounds (3.2 per game) at FHSU as a key reserve, Stein has been very valuable to the Tigers on the defensive end of the floor. Though a stat category is not kept for charging fouls, Stein has had a tremendous knack for drawing player control fouls, never shy from drawing contact on the defensive end.
As a group, the four Tiger seniors helped FHSU to its first-ever No. 1 national ranking by the WBCA in NCAA Division II. They also helped FHSU reach 30 wins for the first time in the program’s NCAA Division II history last year and claim the program’s first MIAA Championship. FHSU reached the finals of the NCAA Central Regional on its home floor, the deepest run in the NCAA Tournament the program has ever seen.
The Tigers will take on a Lincoln squad that enters Saturday at 8-17 overall and 4-15 in the MIAA. The Blue Tigers have lost four straight entering the contest.
With three regular season games remaining, FHSU is only one game back of Missouri Western for the conference lead, but only a half game clear of Pittsburg State for second place. Regionally, the Tigers look to keep pressure on No. 1 Missouri Western and No. 2 Pittsburg State as the regular season draws closer to the end.