Box Score

The Fort Hays State women's basketball team hosted No. 23 ranked Northwest Missouri State on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 29) at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Behind a season-high 15 3-point field goals, the Lady Tigers were able to knock of the MIAA-leading Bearcats by a score of 84-78.

Fort Hays State started the game hot from the field, leading by as much as seven in the first half after a 3-pointer from Traci Keyser made the score 17-10 with 11:51 to go in the half. Gabby Curtis and Gentry Dietz took control of the final 10 minutes of the first half to give the Bearcats a 46-33 lead at the break. Curtis had 18 first half points while Dietz had 12.

Crista Bechard came out of the locker room on fire, hit three consecutive 3-pointers in the first two and a half minutes of the second half to cut the lead to 48-42. Northwest Missouri State would push the lead back up to 11 on back-to-back 3's by Abby Henry and Shelly Martin with just over 10 minutes remaining. Keyser answered with a 3 of her own on the next possession to make the score 68-60 at the under 10 media timeout.

The Lady Tigers would dominate from there, outscoring Northwest 24-10 in the final 9:53. They would take the lead on a long 2-point basket from Keyser with 3:17 to go that made it 77-76. Northwest tied the game on t heir next possession after Dietz hit 1 of 2 free throw attempts. A pair of free throws from Keyser would give the Lady Tigers the lead that they would not relinquish. Free throw's from Kara Champlin, Bechard and Kelsie Sorenson down the stretch would provide the final margin of 84-78. 

The game marked the Lady Tigers first win over a ranked opponent under the direction of head coach Tony Hobson, and the programs first win over a ranked foe since defeating No. 21 Carson-Newman 71-66 on December 31, 2005. Since that game, Fort Hays State had dropped 24 consecutive games against ranked teams. The Lady Tigers were also just one 3-point field goal away from tying the school record for the most made 3-pointers in a game, going 15-for 25 (60%). 

Keyser had a team-high 23 points for the Lady Tigers on 7-8 shooting, which included 5-6 shooting from beyond the arc. She also improved on her MIAA-leading free throw percentage after making all four of her attempts. Bechard added 18 points for FHSU, with 16 of them coming after the intermission. 

Rhys Pihl knocked down three 3-pointers on her way to scoring 13 points off the bench and Kara McFarland added 11 points and six rebounds. Champlin struggled to get it going offensively against the Bearcats big front line, but she did pull down nine rebounds and blocked two shots.

Curtis led Northwest Missouri State (15-3, 11-3 MIAA) with 23 points and Dietz added 20. Shelly Martin had 14 for the Bearcats, who had defeated nationall ranked Washburn and Emporia State in their two previous games. Kyla Roehrig, who averages a double-double for Northwest, was held to nine points and nine rebounds.

The win for Fort Hays State was their third consecutive and improves their record to 9-9 and 6-8 in the MIAA. They will host Missouri Western on Wednesday night (Feb. 2) in a game starting at 5:30 pm.