By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
A red-hot shooting Pittsburg State team knocked off Fort Hays State on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 7) at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Gorillas torched the nets in the first half to take a 50-19 halftime lead, but a strong comeback effort by the Tigers early in the second half came up short. Pittsburg State took the contest by a score of 87-65. FHSU is now 13-5 overall, 8-2 in the MIAA, while PSU improved to 11-4 overall, 6-3 in the MIAA.
The opening of the game was very similar to Thursday night against Missouri Southern where the opposition started on a strong run. However, this time the Tigers could not recover as the Gorillas continued to hit shot after shot with not much of an answer. Pitt State opened the game on an 8-0 run and went on to lead 25-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The lead reached 20 about two and a half minutes into the second quarter and eventually 30 at the 3:34 mark. The lead reached its largest, 33 points, with about two minutes to play before halftime. Pittsburg State would have shot over 60 percent from the field in the first half if it did not miss its last four shots, so their halftime field goal percentage rested at 57.1 percent. FHSU shot just 24.1 percent from the field in the first half.
The Tigers were not going to go quietly after a frustrating first half. They made a furious run back at the Gorillas with full-court pressure, going on a 17-1 run from about the 8:30 mark down to the 2:47 mark of the third quarter. The Gorillas finally found a bucket to stop the run and managed to get back up by 20 by the end of the third quarter.
The Tigers kept chipping away, scoring the first four points of the fourth quarter to get the margin back down to 16 twice before a key technical foul call on the Gorillas gave the Tigers a chance to get the lead all the way down to potentially 10 or nine points. The Tigers were only able to hit two four free-throw attempts with the clock stopped to get the lead down to 14, and then were not able to get any points on the possession following the technical. Moments later, the Gorillas hit another bucket and managed to weather the Tiger defense the rest of the way, eventually winning by 22.
The Gorillas finished the game at 50.8 percent from the field. FHSU was able to get its field goal percentage up to 37.3 percent for the game, but the most glaring stat line was an 0-for-19 effort beyond the 3-point line. The Gorillas hit eight more field goals in the game than the Tigers and were 8-for-20 beyond the 3-point line, so they covered the final margin in all of their 3-point shots made. FHSU made two more free throws, even though they missed 12 compared to just two misses by PSU.
Olivia Hollenbeck led the Tigers with 20 points and tied for top rebounding honors on the team with Sydney Golladayand Kate Dilsaver, all with five. It was Hollenbeck’s third game of 20 or more points this season. Katie Wagner and Emma Ruddle also reached double figures with scoring, each with 12. Golladay led the Tigers in assists with five.
Grace Pyle and Tristan Gegg did all of the 3-point damage for Pitt State. Pyle finished with 21 points and three 3-point field goals made, while Gegg had 19 points and five 3-point makes. Harper Schreiner and Karenna Gerber each had 13 points. Erin Davis led the Gorillas in assists with six, while Pyle and Gerber each pulled down seven rebounds.
The Tigers slipped to a second-place tie with Nebraska-Kearney in the MIAA standings, which is the next team they will see. FHSU will rest up this week to get ready for a battle with UNK next Saturday (Jan. 14) in Hays. The No. 22 ranked Lopers will enter at 15-3 overall, 8-2 in the MIAA.