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The Fort Hays State women's basketball team will play their final home game of the 2010-11 season on Saturday (Feb. 19) when Missouri Southern comes to town. It is another crucial game for the Lady Tigers, who are trying to remain in contention for postseason play.

Missouri Southern (14-9, 12-7 MIAA) defeated the Lady Tigers 59-57 in overtime when the teams met in Joplin, Mo. back on January 10th. Since then, Fort Hays State (12-11, 9-10 MIAA) has won 6 of 10 games and put themselves back in position to qualify for the MIAA postseason tournament in Kansas City. Currently the Lady Tigers are tied with Truman for 8th in the conference standings, one game behind Central Missouri and Missouri Western.

A key to the Lady Tigers recent success has been the production of Traci Keyser and Crista Bechard. Keyser has scored 10 or more points in seven of the past eight games and is the team's leading scorer, averaging 11.2 points per game. Much of her damage has been done from long range and at the charity stripe. She leads the MIAA in free throw percentage (90.1%) for the second consecutive season and is second in 3-point field goal percentage (43.3%)

Bechard is also effective from long range, but most of her damage recently has been done by getting to the basket. She has scored in double figures for nine consecutive games and raised her average to 10.8 points per game, which is second on the team. Bechard also ranks second on the team in assists (58) and steals (27) while playing a team-high 32 minutes per game. 

Saturday will also be Senior Day for the Lady Tigers, who have three seniors who will be playing their final game at Gross Memorial Coliseum: Kaniesha Pettaway, Shelby Hillman, and Kara Champlin.

Pettaway joined the Lady Tigers this season and has been steady in the backcourt, starting every game so far this season and averaging a team-high 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. She also ranks second on the team in rebounding, averaging 4.0 rebounds per game.

Hillman is in her second season at FHSU after transferring from Barton Community College. She has started 19 games for the Lady Tigers and amassed 199 points and 133 rebounds to date.

Champlin is also in her second year with the Lady Tigers. She leads the team in rebounding, averaging 6.5 boards per game and she is the third-leading scorer with 8.2 points per game. Her field goal percentage of 52.7% (77-for-146) leads the team and ranks among the leaders in the MIAA.

Jasmine Lovejoy leads Missouri Southern in scoring (17.8 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg) and is the reigning MIAA Player of the Week. Erin Rice is the team's second leading scorer (13.4 ppg) and third leading rebounder (5.6 rpg) while Kelby Fritz leads the Lions with 3.1 assists per game and is the third leading scorer, averaging 8.2 points per game.