The Fort Hays State women's basketball team will step out of MIAA play one final time and close out the calendar year on Friday evening (Dec. 30) with a contest against Doane College. The Lady Tigers enter the game winners of three straight games following their only loss of the season.

Fort Hays State and Doane College have met just three times in regular season action, including each of the past two seasons. All three meetings have been in Hays, with the matchup being a 76-70 FHSU win during the 1987-88 season. Fort Hays State is 3-0 against Doane, including a 77-47 win last season in Hays.

Doane comes to Hays with a 7-5 record, but four of their losses have come against teams ranked in the NAIA Top 25. They also have a 75-74 win over then-No. 5 Hastings College to their credit earlier in the year. Fort Hays State will be the only NCAA Division II school that they face this year and Doane will count the game as an exhibition. Cheryl Braithwait leads the Tigers in scoring, averaging 13.1 points per game followed by Madara Upeniece at 11.2. Hannah Dostal is averaging 4.6 rebounds per game to lead Doane, while Savannah Lohmeier is averaging 3.3 assists per game to lead the team.

The 10-1 start for Fort Hays State is the best by the Lady Tigers since the 1990-91 team started 14-1 on their way to winning the NAIA National Championship. It is also on the third time in school history that FHSU has started 10-1, joining the 1971-72 team which started the season 12-1 before dropping the final game of the season against Kansas State.

This year's Fort Hays State team leads the MIAA in scoring defense by giving up only 51.2 points per game so far this year. In comparison, the Lady Tigers are scoring 78.2 points per game, giving them a scoring margin of +27.0 points per game, which leads the MIAA and ranks second in the nation behind Arkansas Tech, who is winning by an average of 39.2 points per game.

Fort Hays State finished up a four-game homestand against NAIA opponents earlier this season with a 4-0 record. The Lady Tigers were 2-0 against NAIA teams a year ago, defeating Doane College and Tabor College, two teams who are on the schedule once again this season. With four wins over NAIA foes already this year, Tony Hobson is now 13-2 in his tenure against members of the NAIA, with the two losses coming early in his first season of 2008-09. The Tigers have won eleven straight meetings with NAIA teams, the last loss being a 74-68 defeat at the hands of Kansas Wesleyan on Nov. 24, 2008 at Gross Memorial Coliseum.