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The Fort Hays State women's basketball team (6-6, 3-5 MIAA) dropped their fifth consecutive road game this season and eighth consecutive overall on Saturday at Southwest Baptist. On Monday night (Jan. 10) they look to rebound and break those streaks when they visit Missouri Southern (7-5, 5-3 MIAA) in Joplin, Mo.
Fort Hays State and Missouri Southern have split the eight meetings since FHSU joined the MIAA for the 2006-07 season and the home team has won each of the last six meetings in the series. The last time the two teams met in Joplin, Missouri Southern defeated the Lady Tigers 91-53 for the largest margin of victory in series history and the second-worst loss suffered by FHSU in the Tony Hobson era as head coach.
The Lady Tigers are led in scoring and rebounding by senior forward Kara Champlin. Champlin, who has been in the starting lineup for the past seven games, is averaging 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Her field goal percentage of 59.5% (44-for-74) is also the best on the team and she is one of five players for FHSU averaging at least one steal per game.
Sophomore Traci Keyser, who has started the last three games, continues to lead FHSU and the MIAA in free-throw percentage at 96.8% (30-for-31) on the year. Last season, Keyser also led the conference in free-throw percentage, shooting 88.9%, which set a single-season record at FHSU. After scoring 10 points against Southwest Baptist, she improved her average to 8.2 points per game, making her the team's third-leading scorer.
The three mainstays in the Fort Hays State starting lineup this year have been guards Crista Bechard and Kaniesha Pettaway and forward Kelsie Sorenson. Bechard is playing a team-high 29.8 minutes per game and averaging 6.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. She is also second on the team in assists (2.7/game) and steals (1.4/game).
Pettaway has compiled eight assists over the past two games and now she is averaging a team-high 3.9 assists per game. She also leads the team in steals (1.7/game) and is the third leading rebounder (3.8/game). Pettaway has struggled to score this season, shooting just 26.2% (11-42) from the field and averaging 1.9 points per game.
Sorenson is one of the team's better defenders and is second on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.3 per game. She has had a hard time putting points on the board recently, however, scoring four points or less in five of the last six games. For the year, Sorenson is averaging 5.2 points per game on 35.9% (23-64) shooting from the field.
Missouri Southern comes into the game 7-5 overall and 5-3 in the MIAA which has them tied with Missouri Western for 4th in the conference. The Lady Lions, however, have dropped their last two contests at Emporia State and at home on Saturday against Washburn. The Missouri Southern offense is led by senior Jasmine Lovejoy who is the MIAA's leading scorer averaging 18.4 points per game. Lovejoy also ranks second in the conference in field goal percentage at 55.1% (70-127) and sixth in rebounding with 8.1 per game.
Fort Hays State has a pair of home games coming up to finish off the first round of MIAA conference play. Pittsburg State comes to Gross Memorial Coliseum on Saturday (Jan. 15) followed by a visit from the defending National Champions of Emporia State on Wednesday, January 19.
