Story by MAYAN PAZ Photos by SILOE MONTIELSANG
Tiger Media Network
It was a successful day for FHSU women’s basketball at Gross Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday. The Tigers won in dominant fashion over Tabor College 93-39, spring boarding FHSU into two road wins in Colorado over the weekend.
The Tigers dominated from the start, going up 16-2 early in the game, a lead that constantly increased throughout the evening. Katie DeGarmo and Olivia Hollenbeck led the team in the first quarter to a 26-8 lead. In the second quarter, FHSU’s second unit continued the domination, with Talexa Weeter scoring 10 points in the second quarter and 16 total in the first half in just seven minutes of playing time. The first half ended with a 30-point Tiger lead, 51-21.
In the second half, the Tigers coach, Talia Kahrs, rotated the players frequently and allowed every player on the roster on the court, using the opportunity to give the bench players some more experience. Weeter continued her performance and finished as the top scorer for the team with a career-high 25 points.
Kahrs was delighted by her team’s performance.
“Our girls came in ready to play today, which is exciting to see, knowing that maybe it was not one of our tougher games,” she said. “I was really proud of how they came in, locked in, ready to go. I thought we played really, really unselfishly. We got the best shot about every possession of the floor. So I was really proud of them for that.”
FHSU had 32 assists on 40 made baskets and showcased a full-court zone defense throughout most of the second half, leading to 17 steals and 31 fast-break points during the game. Kahrs was proud of the way her players executed her defensive game plan.
“We tried to mix it up a little bit. That’s kind of our goal on defense. Hopefully, the other team is not quite sure what we’re going to do,” she said. “I thought we did a really good job of executing that something a little different than we’ve done the first four games, and I thought we guarded them really well.”
Weeter was happy with her performance but gave full credit to the team’s performance.
“I thought we played really good as a team, and I think that the score was pretty balanced too, and we just played really unselfish as well,” Weeter said.
A nice moment occurred in the second half as Katie DeGarmo scored her 1000th point for Fort Hays State. Not only that, but a few minutes afterward, she also registered her 1000th rebound for the team, making her only the second Tiger in the program’s history to reach such a milestone.
“It is definitely a cool milestone to hit, and it’s cool to realize, like, wow, I’ve been here for a long time, and all the rebounds and points that went into getting to 1000, it’s kind of a special moment for me,” she said.
FHSU leaders: Weeter (25 points), Hollenbeck (24 points, 5 steals), DeGarmo (16 points), Brooke Loewe (seven points, 10 assists).
Tabor leaders: Kloe Bowin and Kassidy Beam (7 points each).
FHSU won their two road contests this weekend, defeating Regis 82-77 in overtime on Friday and Colorado School of Mines 59-46 on Saturday. The Tigers return to GMC this week to begin MIAA play, hosting UCM on Thursday and Washburn on Saturday.