By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
INDIANAPOLIS – The Fort Hays State women’s basketball team earned an at-large bid into the 2025 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship, announced on Selection Sunday (March 9). The Tigers will play as the No. 3 seed in the Central Regional for a second season in a row, with FHSU drawing No. 6 seed Southern Nazarene in the quarterfinal round.
The Tigers and the Crimson Storm will open the tournament on Friday (March 14) inside Lance Arena on the campus of Pittsburg State University. The Gorillas earned hosting duties after picking up the top overall seed in the region.
Fort Hays State enters the tournament 27-4 on the year, the fifth-most wins in a single season in team history. The Tigers posted their 14th-straight 20-win season, the longest active streak in Division II.
This is Fort Hays State’s 10th selection to play in the NCAA Tournament, including nine trips to the dance in the last 11 years. The Tigers are 8-8 all-time in the tournament, 5-2 against teams from the NSIC, 1-1 as the No. 3 seed and 1-0 against the No. 6 seed.
The Tigers have played in the regional in Pittsburg once before, earning the No. 5 seed in 2016 before falling to No. 4 Winona State in the quarterfinal round, 60-55.
Fort Hays State reached the regional semifinal last year as the No. 3 seed, beating Northwest Missouri in the quarterfinal round before falling to eventual national champion Minnesota State-Mankato in the semis.
There is a quick turnaround after Friday’s quarterfinal round, with winning teams playing in the semifinals on Saturday (March 15) before advancing to the regional title game next Monday (March 17).
The Central Region champion will join seven other regional champions in Pittsburgh, Pa. at the NCAA Division II Women’s Elite Eight March 24-28.
Fort Hays State is 2-0 all-time against Southern Nazarene, including a
More information on the regional, including game times, ticket information and more will be released as it becomes available.
2025 NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship Central Region Tournament Quarterfinal Matchups
No. 1 Pittsburg State (29-3) vs. No. 8 Harding (25-6)
No. 2 Concordia-St. Paul (29-2) vs. No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State (26-4)
No. 3 Fort Hays State (27-4) vs. No. 7 Southern Nazarene (23-7)
No. 4 Missouri Western (20-9) vs. No. 5 Minnesota State Mankato (24-7)
MIAA Tournament recap
Championship
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State Women’s Basketball fell in the MIAA Tournament Championship Game on Sunday at Municipal Auditorium. Pittsburg State raced out of the gate to a 9-0 lead and the Tigers struggled to find their rhythm early, ultimately leading to an 81-73 victory for the Gorillas. FHSU is now 27-4 overall, while PSU moved to 29-3 overall.
Fort Hays State fell down 22-10 after one quarter and the lead grew as large as 22 in the first half for the Gorillas. Eventually PSU took a 16-point lead (43-27) to the locker room. The Gorillas shot nearly 50 percent in the first half, while FHSU struggled to just 33.3 percent.
The Tigers lost two more points of ground in the third quarter and went into the fourth down 18. The Gorillas held a 24-point lead with 8:49 to play, but the Tigers found a lot of success late and trimmed the final score all the way back down to an eight-point margin. FHSU had the lead down to six with six seconds to play.
Katie Wagner DeGarmo, the MIAA Player of the Year, moved into the all-time lead for scoring and rebounds at the MIAA Tournament. She had a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. She finished with 227 points and 117 rebounds in her MIAA Tournament career.
Olivia Hollenbeck and Talexa Weeter tied for high-point honors for the Tigers, each with 17. Hollenbeck was just one rebound shy of a double-double with nine. Brooke Loewe also was close to a double-double with 15 points and nine assists. Weeter and DeGarmo were named to the all-tournament team for their success over three contests.
Grace Pyle led the Gorillas with 23 points, while Karenna Gerber added 19. All Gorillas that played in the game scored.
For Fort Hays State, it was their sixth appearance in the MIAA Championship game over the last eight MIAA Tournaments.
Semifinals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The ninth-ranked Fort Hays State women’s basketball team avenged a pair of regular season losses against Missouri Western with a 77-73 win in the semifinal round of the 2025 MIAA Championship presented by Southern Bank on Saturday (March 8).
With the win the Tigers (27-3) will move on to the conference tournament title game on Sunday afternoon (March 9) where they will face off with No. 8 Pittsburg State for the second consecutive season.
The Griffons (20-9) quickly built an eight-point lead in the first quarter after pouring in 3-of-6 from behind the arc in the opening quarter. A pair of Talexa Weeter 3-pointers allowed the Tigers to close within two by the end of the first frame, 19-17.
After scoring six points in the opening quarter, Katie Wagner DeGarmo quickly added five points in the first 62 seconds of the second frame to give the Tigers their first lead of the day, 22-19. Missouri Western later tied the score at 26 before a 3-pointer from Bailey Wilborngave FHSU the lead for good midway through the second quarter.
Ellie Stearns added a 3-pointer soon after while Weeter hit two more layups, giving the sophomore 14 first-half points and stretching the Tiger lead as high as eight. But the Griffons were able to end the quarter on a 5-0 run, holding FHSU scoreless for more than four minutes to pull within 36-33 at the break.
Fort Hays State methodically pushed its lead back to eight midway through the third before a quick 6-0 Griffon run made it a two-point game, 46-44. The graduate student duo of DeGarmo and Olivia Hollenbeck answered with their own six-point run, padding the lead back to eight.
DeGarmo scored on the first possession of the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to double figures for the first time, 58-48. Fort Hays State later led by as many as 14, 64-50, with 7:25 to play.
No strangers to shaking off double-digit deficits against the Tigers after doing so twice in the regular season, the Griffons weren’t done. Missouri Western poured in 4-of-7 from behind the arc down the stretch, helping the Griffons pull within one possession with 11 seconds to go.
Thanks to a 7-of-9 effort from the free-throw line over the final 63 seconds of action the Tigers were able to hold off the Griffon run once and for all.
The Tigers combined to shoot 51.7 percent from the floor (30-of-58), shooting 50 percent or better for the fourth time in the last five games and doing so for the 11th time this season.
DeGarmo led the team with 25 points and eight rebounds while finishing second on the squad with a season-high seven assists. The Maize, Kan. native now has 106 rebounds in 13 MIAA tournament games, tied for the most in a career in tournament history (Kathryn Flott, ESU, 2012-17). She also has 211 points in those games, two off the MIAA tournament scoring record (213 poitns, Shelley Foster, WU, 1992-95).
Two days after racking up a career-high 35 points, fourth-most in a game in tournament history, Weeter racked up 21 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks against the Griffons. Wilborn recorded 10 points, three assists and two steals after knocking down 3-of-5 from behind the arc, while Brooke Loewe distributed eight assists alongside seven points. Stearns hit a pair from behind the arc, totaling six points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Griffons also had a pair surpass the 20-point threshold, with first team All-MIAA pick Alyssa Bonilla totaling 26 points on five 3-pointers while Laura Toffali contributed 21 points.
The Tigers will play in the finals for the sixth time in the last eight tournaments, three more than any other school during that span. FHSU’s seven appearances in the conference title game since joining the MIAA 19 years ago are second only to Emporia State during that span (nine).