FHSU Sports Information Department
HAYS, Kan. – After a pair of tightly-contested MIAA wins last weekend, the Fort Hays State women’s basketball team cruised to a 71-38 victory over Tabor Wednesday evening (Dec. 14) inside Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers improve to 9-2 after their third-straight win. The game was considered as an exhibition for the Bluejays, who will maintain their 10-3 record when they return to NAIA play.
Fort Hays State is now 18-0 all-time against Tabor, it’s most wins without a loss against any school.
The Tigers hit 44.3 percent of their shots from the field (31-for-70) while holding the visitors to a 28.8 percent shooting effort (17-for-59). While both teams turned the ball over 17 times, FHSU fought for a 15-9 edge in steals. The Tigers were dominant on the boards, pulling down 54 rebounds to Tabor’s 31. Twenty-three of Tigers’ boards were on the offensive glass, leading to 25-second chance points.
Jill Faxon led all scorers with 20 points after an effective second half, sinking 7-of-9 shots after the break. The senior now has 999 career points and will become the 18th member of the 1,000-point club at FHSU with her next basket. Faxon also grabbed eight rebounds and made two steals in the win. Kacey Kennett drilled three shots from behind the arc en route to 13 points. Emma Stroyan was a force under the basket, making five blocks while grabbing five rebounds and scoring 11 points. Tatyana Legette was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field, scoring 10 points and grabbing eight rebounds while adding two blocks.
The Tigers never trailed in the contest, leading wire-to-wire after Taylor Chandler opened the scoring with a layup. The Tigers scored the first seven points in the game, holding the Bluejays scoreless through the first three minutes of play. FHSU quickly built a double-digit lead, 17-6, when Kennett drilled a three-pointer off a pass from Stroyan. Legette stretched the lead to 13 with a layup on a dish from Taylor Rolfs before Tabor scored the final two buckets of the quarter to trail 19-10 after 10 minutes.
Both sides struggled to score in the second quarter, combining to shoot 27 percent in the frame. Legette was the only Tiger to score in the first five minutes of the frame, scoring the first six points for FHSU. A layup from Faxon once again stretched the lead to 13 with 4:49 to play before the Bluejays scored the next six points to close within seven. After Carly Heim made a fast-break layup with less than a minute left, Kennett added a three-pointer from the right wing with 11 seconds left to give the Tigers a 12-point advantage at the break, 32-20.
The Tigers led by double-digits for the rest of the game thanks to a strong defensive effort in the third quarter. Tabor made just two of its 12 attempts in the third period while making five turnovers. The lead ballooned to 32 after a 29-4 FHSU run that spanned the end of the second quarter to the first minutes of the fourth quarter. Faxon scored 15 points in just 10 minutes of play after halftime, including eight-straight to open the final frame. After Tabor went on a quick 6-0 run, the Tigers scored 11 of the final 15 points to extend the lead to 33, the largest of the day. Belle Barbieri opened the run with a put-back layup, followed by a Lindsay Shupe jumper in the lane. Carly Heim and Madison Mittie made driving layups on back-to-back possessions before Shupe closed the contest by drilling a triple from the left wing.
Fort Hays State will return to the court on Monday (Dec. 19) with a 6 p.m. contest against Midland University.