Box Score

Despite a season-high 25 turnovers, the Fort Hays State women's basketball team rallied for a 63-50 victory over former RMAC rival Nebraska-Kearney on Tuesday night at the Health & Sports Center in Kearney, Neb.
 
Fort Hays State came out shooting the ball well early, hitting three of their first four shots from beyond the arc. Traci Keyser led the way, hitting a pair of three pointers and finishing the first half with 11 points. Turnovers plagued both teams, who combined for 25 turnovers in the first half. FHSU led throughout the half and by as many as six early on, but UNK hung around and cut the lead to one on multiple occasions. The Lady Tigers extended the lead at the end of the half and Crista Bechard hit a runner in the lane with one second left in the half to give FHSU a 30-24 lead at the break.
 
After a sluggish start to the second half, Fort Hays State got back-to-back three pointers from Bechard to put them up 39-32 with 15:30 to play. Kate Lehman got a block of Loper Melissa Norman and followed it up on a nice post move of her own put FHSU up 41-32 and finished off an 8-2 Lady Tiger run. UNK would pull within six at 45-39 on a layup from Debi Johnson, but the Lady Tigers would again respond, getting a floater from Bechard and a Katelyn Edwards and-one opportunity to take a 50-39 lead at the under 10 media timeout.

FHSU would remain in control the rest of the way, pushing the lead to 16 after a Lehman jumper made it 59-43 with just over six minutes to play. The Lopers would continue to battle, but were unable to make enough of a push to get the game close. A scary moment for Tiger fans came at the 2:33 mark when Bechard left the game with an apparent ankle injury after securing a rebound. She would not return to the game, but the Lady Tigers finished off the game and left Kearney with a 63-50 victory, improving to 9-1 on the year.
 
Edwards had a huge second half to lead the Lady Tigers, finishing with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists after scoring just two points in the first half. Keyser added 14 points and tied her season-high with seven rebounds. Bechard put in 13 points, including 3-4 from 3-point range before leaving the game. Kelsie Sorenson grabbed a game-high eight rebounds while Lehman provided good minutes off the bench, scoring a season-high nine points while grabbing five rebounds and blocking two shots. The downside for FHSU was that they committed a season-high 25 turnovers, while forcing just 14.
 
Nebraska-Kearney, who drops to 0-9 on the year, was led by 15 points from Vanessa Leeper Jones and five rebounds from both Lee Ann Jameson and Debi Johnson.
 
Fort Hays State will return to MIAA play on Saturday (Dec. 17) when Northwest Missouri State comes to Gross Memorial Coliseum for a game tipping off at 2:00 pm.