By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
BOLIVAR, Mo. – After pulling out a pair of close contests against Southwest Baptist a year ago, the fifth-ranked Fort Hays State women’s basketball team left no doubt Saturday afternoon (Jan. 5), knocking out the Bearcats by 25, 92-67. The win extends the Tigers’ best start to a season to 13-0 overall and 4-0 in MIAA action, while SBU dips to 4-9 overall and 0-4 in conference play.
With the victory, Tony Hobson now has 218 wins at the helm at Fort Hays State, more than any other coach in program history.
The Tigers set the tone early, jumping in front by 10 over the first seven minutes of action, 18-8. However, Southwest Baptist battled back to tie things up at 19-19 at the end of the first frame thanks to a buzzer-beating three-pointer.
After the Tigers were unable to hit a triple in the first quarter, Lanie Page poured in the teams’ first long-range attempt of the second quarter to give FHSU the lead for good. The Bearcats hung around over the first half of the quarter, answering a pair of Tiger runs with buckets of their own. But the home team was unable to keep the Tigers within reach forever, as five points from Whitney Randall, four from Taylor Rolfs and a big three-pointer from Hailey Walker quickly gave the Tigers a 12-0 run to pad the lead to 41-27. A late layup from Carly Heim made the halftime lead 13, 43-30.
The Tigers continued to dominate out of the locker room, scoring the first 10 points in the third quarter to take complete control. Fort Hays State outscored the Bearcats 30-10 in the third quarter, ultimately going on a 44-13 run beginning in the second quarter to lead 73-40 with 10 minutes to play. The Tigers knocked down 10-of-16 from the floor (62.5 percent) in the frame while limiting the Bearcats to just 16.7 percent shooting (3-of-18).
Southwest Baptist hit four three-pointers in the fourth quarter, but the Tiger advantage was too much to overcome.
Fort Hays State knocked down 46.4 percent from the floor (32-of-69), eclipsing 45 percent shooting for the seventh time this season. The Tigers knocked down a season-high 44.4 percent from deep, hitting 8-of-18 from three. After missing four of their first 10 free throws, the Tigers hit their final 14 from the charity stripe to finish 20-for-24 (83.3 percent). The Tigers took advantage of 22 Bearcat turnovers, scoring 37 points off turnovers. FHSU totaled 15 steals, including three each from Heim, Kacey Kennett and Tatyana Legette.
Four Tigers scored in double figures, led by 16 from Heim. Randall matched her career high with 15 points, while Barbieri added 13 and Page chipped in 12. Eleven different Tigers scored in the victory.
The Tigers will return home to continue conference play next week when they host the Oklahoma contingent of the MIAA. First up is a Thursday evening (Jan. 10) contest against Northeastern State, scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. first tip inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.