BY RUSSELL HEITMANN
\nPHOTO COURTESY FHSU ATHLETICS<\/p>\n
Should the Big 12 Conference be looking for expansion women\u2019s basketball teams anytime soon, Fort Hays State certainly made their case during exhibition play this year. After dropping an overtime thriller on Sunday to the University of Kansas, 90-83, the Tigers took Kansas State to the brink on Thursday in Manhattan, before eventually falling to the Wildcats, 48-46.<\/p>\n
The Tigers had a chance to either win or force overtime on the last possession of the game. FHSU went with an option play for Sunday\u2019s hero, Taylor Rolfs; however, her driving layup attempt was blocked, ending any chances FHSU had at victory.<\/p>\n
With the Tigers set to begin their regular season next Friday, FHSU has been in two contrasting games already, priming them for the rigors of both the regular season and the eventual MIAA grind. Tony Hobson, coach of the Tigers, sees this early season style differential as an advantage, as well as a testament to what his team is capable of accomplishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it says a lot about our personnel that we can play different styles and survive,\u201d Hobson said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to score 83 to be in games. [I] just would have like to see another one go there at the buzzer and force another overtime or win it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tigers were once again undersized in comparison to their Division I foe. Kansas State outrebounded FHSU, 55-40 and blocked seven Tiger shot attempts. Hobson said that KSU\u2019s size and rebounding advantage played a role in the game, but it also forced his team to play a different style to overcome the Wildcats\u2019 size.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just had to score in a different way, I knew we wouldn\u2019t have as many open looks because they saw us play on Sunday,\u201d Hobson said. \u201cWe had some good shots we just didn\u2019t hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether it was an official scout or not, head coach of the Wildcats, Jeff Mittie, was in attendance in Lawrence on Sunday watching his daughter, Madison play. Madison plays for FHSU and tonight was an opportunity for her to play against her father.<\/p>\n
FHSU only had one player in double-figures, senior forward Tatyana Legette. Legette finished with a double-double, 14 points and 11 rebounds. On a night where the rest of the Tigers weren\u2019t scoring, Hobson put the load on his senior leader to lead the charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cT [Tatyana] can do that on any given night. I told her we were struggling from the perimeter and you need to take it to the basket and if you get blocked, big deal just make something happen,\u201d Hobson said. \u201cShe played with a lot of energy and she was really great on the boards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hobson went on to say that the depth of his team is another advantage, especially when the regular season creeps into the latter months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is nice to have that many weapons,\u201d Hobson said. \u201cWe will probably need all 14 kids before the year is over.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tigers only hit four three-point baskets on 22 attempts and were 12-19 from the free-throw line. FHSU did force 19 K-State turnovers and converted 14 points on those takeaways.<\/p>\n
Even though neither exhibition game counts toward FHSU\u2019s official record, Hobson sees the merits of playing these games, and notes the competitive nature of these contests can only help his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the fact that we are in these games on the road at this time of year is a testament to how good we can be if things go our way,\u201d Hobson said.<\/p>\n
FHSU opens their season on Friday, November 9th<\/sup> against Southwest Minnesota State. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Gross Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BY RUSSELL HEITMANN PHOTO COURTESY FHSU ATHLETICS Should the Big 12 Conference be looking for expansion women\u2019s basketball teams anytime soon, Fort Hays State certainly… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"FHSU WBB drops final exhibition to K-State 48-46 despite Legette\u2019s double-double","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7349,3395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-womens-basketball-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41741,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41739\/revisions\/41741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}