By Cora Tasset
It wasn’t a thing of beauty for the Tigers. In the end, the final score wasn’t to the Fort Hays State University women’s basketball team’s liking either.
The Tigers dropped Sunday afternoon’s conference tourney title game to Nebraska-Kearney, 57-51.
“We just got off to a bad start. We missed a couple easy ones and missed several free throws,” FHSU head coach Tony Hobson said. “We played a good team today, and you cannot get behind that far and be able to battle back.”
Senior guard Jaden Hobbs led the Tigers with 14 points, four assists, two rebounds, two steals and a block.
Other leaders included Katie Wagner and Jessie Sallach. Wagner finished with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists. Sallach added eight points, one rebound and a block; she also shot 100% from the free-throw line.
“I’m proud of our kids for not just packing in and giving up. We hung in there and made a game out of it for them,” Hobson said. “It wasn’t our best day, and we played a hungry team that’s a good team and probably had some revenge on their minds.”
The Tigers had a rough start in the first quarter, trailing the Lopers 19-7. At halftime, Fort Hays was behind 29-18.
After the third quarter, the Lopers were still leading, 44-31.
The Tigers will be playing in the NCAA Central Regional Tournament in Warrensburg, Mo. FHSU, despite the loss in the tourney title game, earned the No. 1 seed and will play the winner of the Central Missouri and St. Cloud State game at 5 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals. The winner of that game advances to Monday’s 6 p.m. regional championship game.
