Though it wasn’t the scoring race of last year’s contest, FHSU pushed its winning streak to three games with a 75-47 victory over Newman on Tuesday, Nov. 25 in Wichita, Kan.\u00a0 The Tigers were led by four players in double-digits and several big runs throughout the night.<\/p>\n
FHSU (4-1) has won its last three games by a 43.3 point margin and has shot over 45 percent from the field in that span.\u00a0 On Tuesday, the Tigers hit 27-of-58 from the field (46.6 percent) and 17-of-18 from the charity stripe (94.4 percent).<\/p>\n
FHSU missed its first four field goals, but grabbed three offensive boards in that stretch before picking things up on Jill Faxon<\/a><\/dfn>‘s three-pointer at 17:22 that gave FHSU an 8-4 lead.\u00a0 From there, Kate Lehman<\/a><\/dfn> ran off six unanswered by herself as part of a larger 12-2 run (including nine unanswered) for the Tigers, moving them to a 17-6 advantage with 13:53 to play in the first half.<\/p>\n FHSU went cold for a short stretch after that, failing to score until the 9:41 mark when Nikola Kacperska<\/a><\/dfn> hit an off-balance jumper.\u00a0 That field goal started a 12-3 run for FHSU that moved FHSU to a 29-13 lead.\u00a0 Paige Lunsford<\/a><\/dfn> had four points during the run, which included a burst of eight unanswered to close the rally.<\/p>\n Newman answered by going on a 9-3 run of its own, going 3-of-3 from the field during that span and cutting the lead to 10 (32-22).\u00a0 Over the final three minutes of the half, FHSU scored six unanswered and sent the game to break, 38-22.<\/p>\n Lehman had a monster half for the Tigers in the opening period, scoring 14 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks in the first 20 minutes.<\/p>\n Opening the half, Lunsford ran off three points to reach a career-high on the night (nine points) and pushed the lead to 19 (41-22) at 19:14.\u00a0 Combined with the end of the first half, that was a 9-0 surge for FHSU.<\/p>\n Over the next eight minutes, however, Newman responded with another run (13-4) and cut the deficit to 47-35.\u00a0 After a jumper from Faxon stopped the run, NU cut the lead to eight (47-39) with another four unanswered.\u00a0 Mason’s three-pointer, however, pushed the lead back to double-digits (50-39) at 11:12 and started a 9-0 run for FHSU.\u00a0 After a layup by NU’s Brianna Caldwell, the Tigers pushed ahead with another five unanswered, taking a 62-41 lead.<\/p>\n Fort Hays State ended the game on a 9-0 run over the final 4:45, taking its biggest lead of the night on a free throw from\u00a0Taylor Menke<\/a><\/dfn> with 18 seconds to play for the final points of the game (75-47).<\/p>\n Lehman finished the contest with her second consecutive double-double (and 42nd of her career), scoring 21 points to go with 15 rebounds (a season-high), six blocks and four assists. With the performance, Lehman now has 20-plus points in four of her five games this season and climbed to No. 6 all-time on the NCAA’s career blocks list \u2013 passing Auke Steponaviciute, who played at Abilene Christian from 1994-97.\u00a0 She now has 393 blocks for her career.<\/p>\n Lunsford reached a career-high with her first double-digit scoring performance in a Tiger uniform, finishing with 13 points, six rebounds and four assists.\u00a0 Two other Tigers, Jill Faxon<\/a><\/dfn> (12 points) and Chelsea Mason<\/a><\/dfn> (10 points) reached double-digits as well.\u00a0 Faxon added six rebounds, tied with Lunsford for third on the team, behind Keriann Shaw<\/a><\/dfn>, who added seven rebounds with five points.<\/p>\n