BY CORA TASSET
The Fort Hays State women’s basketball team is headed back to the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament. After finishing in the semifinals at the MIAA Tournament last week, the Tigers are looking for a few more big wins before their season is over.
“It’s always exciting to make postseason and this is what we play for,” senior guard Kacey Kennett said. “We’re in it for the championship, and we’re excited to see what happens.”
The Tigers were selected as the No. 7 seed in the Central Region and will be playing the No. 2 seed, Minnesota-Duluth, at 2:30 p.m. Friday. FHSU played Minnesota-Duluth in their first game of the season at the Hillyard Tip-Off Classic. The Tigers beat the Bulldogs 59-51 and are looking to bring in another win against UMD on Friday.
Belle Barbieri was just shy of a double-double with nine points and 14 rebounds in their first matchup. Taylor Rolfs added eight points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal, while Whitney Randall contributed eight points, three rebounds and one steal and shot 100% from the free-throw line.
“We had to win our last five conference games, so we basically had a five-game play-in and if we would have lost any of those games we wouldn’t have made it to this. We really played well in order to do that,” head coach Tony Hobson said. “Duluth is a good team, and they have some big players who are rangy on the wings and match up with us really well.”
Fort Hays has now made six appearances in the NCAA tournament. Five of those six appearances have been in the past six years, and this is the third year in a row the Tigers will be competing for a chance at a national title.
“Any extra time is always a plus, and we are definitely looking forward to it; it was fun to be together as a team and find out that we were going to the tournament,” Kennett said. “We have a lot of energy and we know we can do big things still, and we are just excited for the opportunity.”
There are three MIAA teams vying for the Central Regional title. Emporia State and the region’s No. 1 seed, Central Missouri, will be joining the Tigers in the region. ESU is the No. 4 seed, and they will play the No. 5 seed, Southeastern Oklahoma State. As the top seed, UCM will play the No. 8 seed, Southwestern Oklahoma State.
“We’ve played a lot of games at this tournament and all of our seniors have played in the tournament and that is a great advantage,” Hobson said. “We don’t get as rattled and have great experience and those things all play into it.”
The Central Region championship will be in Warrensburg, Mo., at the UCM Multipurpose Building from Friday through Monday. The four quarterfinal games will be played Friday, and the two semifinal games will be played Saturday. The regional championship will be played Monday night. The full NCAA DII women’s bracket can be found here.