By MAYAN PAZ
Tiger Media Network
Currently on an 11-game winning streak, the FHSU women’s basketball team has established itself as one of the top teams in the nation. With an 18-1 overall record and 9-1 mark in the MIAA, the Tigers are ranked No. 5 in the nation. This weekend, they will face the only opponent to beat them so far, the Washburn Ichabods on Thursday and the Central Missouri Jennies on Saturday.
Playing Washburn on the road earlier this year, the Tigers struggled from the 3-point line, going just 5-25 from beyond the arc in their 67-64 loss. Talexa Weeter, who is shooting 42.9% from the 3-point line this season, especially struggled that game in Topeka, making only 1 of her 6 3-point attempts.
According to the FHSU head coach, Talia Kahrs, that game was a rare shooting slip-up for Weeter; however, she still managed to score 28 points. Weeter leads the team and NCAA DII in scoring with 27.9 points per game. Kahrs said the team has also improved since their loss to Washburn.
“We knew it was gonna be a tough game going into that, and we just didn’t shoot the ball well, didn’t execute well offensively, and really, really guarded very poorly,” Kahrs said. “So, going back and watching it, thinking about just the last month, I feel like we’re a different team. We’ve grown a lot, we’re playing better basketball, and we fixed some weaknesses that we had.”
The top half of the MIAA standings is very close together, as the Tigers lead the pack with a 9-1 record. UCM is tied for 4th in the standings and is just one game back of FHSU at 8-2. With a 7-3 MIAA record, Washburn is ranked 6th, and the Tigers expect a difficult challenge this weekend.
However, Kahrs said that she and the team are first preparing for Thursday’s game before considering the game against UCM, even though UCM is ranked higher in the table than the Ichabods.
“They both are really good teams. Washburn’s got a couple more losses than Central Missouri, but I think, is every bit as talented as Central Missouri,” Kahrs said. “They’re just a little different. And so I take it one game at a time. We’ve got to make sure we get through Thursday and try to get a win there.”
With their impressive record, the Tigers are already looking ahead to the postseason, aiming to keep their top players healthy while still winning every game. Kahrs said they are thinking about conserving energy during the games, but that most of that work, making sure that everyone is staying healthy, is happening over the week when preparing for the games.
“I definitely want to be aware of it as much as you can, but I also want to win games,” she said. “There’s that fine line of of hoping that you can keep them healthy, hoping that you can conserve enough energy, hoping we can recover well when we’re not on game day, and just being aware of that and what practice looks like, Monday, Tuesday of that week, and making sure they’re get conserving enough energy to be ready go on Thursday and Saturday.”
FHSU and Washburn tip off at 5:30 tonight at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers and Jennies will play at 2 p.m. on Saturday.