Two ranked teams will visit Gross Memorial Coliseum on the final week of the regular season, starting with No. 11 Pittsburg State on Wednesday (Feb. 22). Fort Hays State enters the game with a record of 19-7 (11-7 MIAA) and they are looking for their first 20-win season since the 2005-06 season, the year before FHSU joined the MIAA. The Lady Tigers are alone in fifth place in the MIAA standings and have clinched a berth in the MIAA Postseason Tournament for the first time since 2009-10.
Fort Hays State and Pittsburg State have met 42 times in women's basketball, dating back to the 1974-75 season. Fort Hays State won the first seven meetings between the schools before Pitt State won the next four. The Gorillas have held the upper hand lately, winning eight of the eleven meetings between the teams since FHSU joined the MIAA in 2006-07, including the last five overall and the last three at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Fort Hays State still holds a 22-20 all-time advantage in the series.
At 23-3 overall and 17-2 in the MIAA, Pittsburg State is on top of the conference standings and were ranked first in the South Central Region standings from last week. Pitt State dropped to No. 11 in the latest WBCA Top 25 after falling to Washburn last week, but the Gorillas can still clinch at least a share of the MIAA title with a win over Fort Hays State on Wednesday. Pitt State is scoring 73.2 points per game, good for second in the conference and they lead the MIAA in blocked shots, averaging 6.3 per game. Lizzy Jeronimus is the Gorillas leading scorer, but they have four players averaging more than 9.7 points per game. Larissa Richards ranks third in the MIAA in rebounding (8.5 rebounds per game) and second in blocked shots (2.8 blocks per game) and Courtney Tate least the team with 3.6 assists per game.
Freshman center
Kate Lehman is coming off a week where she averaged 19.5 points, 15.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocked shots per game. She also had two assists and made 78.3% (18-of-23) of her field goal attempts on her way to being named MIAA Women's Basketball Player of the Week for the first time in her career. Lehman, a native of Newton, Kan., has made quite an impact for Fort Hays State in her first year with the program. She has blocked a Fort Hays State single-season record 87 shots, which is currently the top mark in NCAA Division II. She is also nearing the national lead in blocks per game, averaging 3.35. Lehman ranks second on the team in both scoring (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 rpg) and she has recorded eight double-doubles, with all of them coming during the past 13 games.
Fort Hays State is near the top of the conference in all three of the major margin categories: scoring, rebounding and turnover. The Lady Tigers rank second in scoring margin (+13.7) and rebounding margin (+8.5) while they also rank third in turnover margin at +2.0.
