BY CORA TASSET
Women’s Basketball was back in Hays on Thursday night, for senior night against the Lincoln Blue Tigers. FHSU celebrated their only graduating senior, Madison Mittie. The Tigers beat Lincoln 74-43 moving their record to 17-2.
“We took this game really seriously and we prepared a lot for it, we knew that if we didn’t win this game there probably wasn’t a good chance of us winning the conference,” Mittie said. “To get a win like this on senior night means a lot to me and it was a lot of fun.”
Mittie had four steals, four rebounds, and four assists. This season she has averaged 20.7 minutes, 4.9 points, and 2.8 rebounds per game. Her season highs are 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four steals, and one block.
“Maddie may not have scored tonight, but I told her they would go in on Saturday when we really need it,” Coach Tony Hobson said. “With [four] boards, four steals, and four assists she really did everything else and played well tonight.”
Fellow seniors, Jaden Hobbs and Whitney Randall will be exercise and NCAA waiver granted to all winter sports athletes next season granting an additional year of eligibility after last season was cut short due to COVID-19.
Randall put up 16 points, four rebounds, three assists, one block, and one steal against Lincoln while Hobbs added 16 points, five assists, three steals, two blocks, and one rebound.
“We came out ready to play, we didn’t overlook them and we did what we needed to do,” Hobson said. “We got out to a bigger lead after the second quarter and it was a good opportunity to get some of the kids some extended playing time.”
After the first quarter, the Tigers had the lead against the Blue Tigers, 20-13. At halftime Fort Hays State pulled their lead to double digits, 43-17.
“Jaden was solid during this game and Whitney was just herself and shot the ball very well,” Hobson said. “We had some good playing time from about everybody and it was a good night for us.”
After the third quarter, FHSU kept a steady lead against Lincoln, 62-34. The Tigers beat Lincoln 74-43.
“We had a lot of question marks coming into this season just because we were replacing so many people, but our returners have come back and had a great year,” Hobson said. “Our freshman and new kids are stepping in and doing a good job, it’s been a lot of hard work to get here and we just need to finish strong.”
The women’s basketball team will be playing their final regular season home game against Central Missouri (16-2) at 2:00 p.m. Saturday inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.
“Central Missouri is a really good team, so we are definitely going to have to focus at practice tomorrow and for the game Saturday,” Mittie said. “This game will probably determine the conference championship, and I think everybody is excited and really ready to go out there.”
