Box Score

The Fort Hays State women's basketball team suffered their second straight setback on Wednesday night (Jan. 18), falling to No. 20-ranked Emporia State by a score of 81-70. The Lady Tigers have now suffered consecutive losses for the first time this season and their record drops to 14-4 (6-4 MIAA) on the year.

Fort Hays State led most of the first half after Emporia State jumped out to an early lead of 4-2. FHSU then scored seven straight points to take a 9-4 lead and they would push the lead to nine points on two occasions. The Lady Tigers would continue to lead until late in the first half when Emporia State got three pointers on back-to-back possessions from Heather Robben and Rachel Hanf to take a 34-29 lead. Traci Keyser responded with a three of her own late in the half to cut the ESU lead to 34-32 at the break.

Emporia State opened the second half by scoring the first six points and leaving the Lady Tigers trying to claw back in the game the rest of the way. FHSU had several runs in them, cutting the lead to three on numerous occasions, but each one ended with clutch baskets from one of several Hornets. All five starters scored in double figures for Emporia State as they put up the most points of any team against FHSU this season. While the Lady Tigers tied their season-low with just nine turnovers committed, they were outrebounded (44-37) for just the fourth time this season.

A battle between freshman centers emerged as one of the main storylines of the game, as Fort Hays State's 6-feet, 4-inch Kate Lehman matched up with Emporia State's 6-feet, 3-inch Merissa Quick for the first time. Quick got the best of the matchup in the first half, exploding for 17 points while Lehman battled foul trouble and managed just two points. Lehman came back strong in the second half and finished with her third consecutive double-double, going for 16 points and 11 rebounds. Both players finished the game with seven blocked shots, which for Lehman tied her previous career-high which was set Saturday against Pittsburg State. Quick finished with 20 and seven rebounds before fouling out.

Traci Keyser led the Tigers with 21 points on 5-14 shooting, which included 3-5 shooting from three points and 8-8 shooting at the free throw line. Katelyn Edwards was the only other player to finish with double figure scoring as she had 11 points.

Emporia State got double figure scoring out of all five of their starters, led by 20 from Quick and 18 from Heather Robben. The Hanf and Robben combined to shoot 7-of-12 from long range for the Lady Hornets, who improve to 12-3 (8-2 MIAA) on the year.

Fort Hays State will play their first home game in almost two weeks on Saturday (Jan. 21) when they start the second half of MIAA play against Lincoln. The game will start at 2:00 pm at Gross Memorial Coliseum.