Top-seeded Fort Hays State overcame a sluggish start with strong defense and a potent second half shooting effort as it rolled past fourth-seeded Wayne State College, 70-54, in the NCAA Central Region semifinals on Saturday night (March 14).
 
For the second night in a row, both FHSU (30-3) and WSC (28-6) started slow as neither team hit a field goal until 16:31, when Shaw picked an offensive board and laid it in.  From there, physical play on both ends kept the scoring low and brought the teams to the second media timeout (10:45) in an 8-8 tie.
 
Inside 10 minutes to go in the half, Lehman hit a pair of free throws to break the tie, but another scoring drought ensued for the next two minutes until WSC hit free throws with eight minutes left to draw the score back even, 10-all.  Another two minutes of scoreless play followed before Jill Faxon hit a jumper in the paint and started an 8-0 run for the Tigers as the home team roared to life and took an 18-10 lead and forced a WSC timeout.
 
Out of the pause, the Wildcats stopped the run and ran off nine of their own, taking a 19-18 lead with 1:18 on the clock after a free throw from Paige Ballinger. The Tigers recovered over the final minute though and took a 21-19 lead into the half. 
 
That scoring total tied a season low for the Tigers, previously set on March 8 in the MIAA Finals against Emporia State.  It was also the ninth time this season FHSU has held an opponent under 20 points for the first half.  Both team shot poorly in the first half, combining to go 0-for-11 from long range as FHSU shot 31 percent from the field and WSC hit just 29.6 percent of its field goals.
 
The second half started much quicker for the Tigers as Mason hit a trey and Bohuslavsky had a reverse layup in the opening moments, propelling the Tigers burst that saw them score the first 11 points of the half and take a 32-19 lead.  Ashton Rossi's jumper at 16:14 ended a string of 14 unanswered for the Tigers (including the end of the first half) and was the first WSC field goal in over five minutes of game action.
 
After WSC cut the lead to six (35-29), Mason hit her second three-pointer of the game to put the lead back near double figures with 13:14 remaining.  Over the next few minutes, the Wildcats again cut the lead to three (40-34), but another well-timed trey, this time from Bohuslavsky, kept FHSU's lead at nine near the 10-minute mark.
 
Soon after, back-to-back three-pointers from Faxon and Bohuslavsky started the Tigers on their final push of the evening – a 10-0 run that lasted three minutes and put the lead at 17 (36-53).
 
With four minutes to go, Shaw hit a free throw that grew the Tigers' lead to 20 (62-42) for the first time all day, and FHSU held on over the final four minutes to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament and the Central Region Final.
 
Fort Hays State scored 49 second half points and outrebounded the Wildcats, 42-36 on the night, including nine offensive rebounds.  In the second half the Tigers hit 56 percent from the field to pull away from WSC.
 
Kate Lehman led the team with 23 points on the night, hitting 11-of-14 free throws while pulling down four rebounds.  Chelsea Mason (13 points) and Beth Bohuslavsky (12 points) joined Lehman in double figures as both Tigers had two three-pointers. 
 
Mason had six rebounds as well, third on the team behind Keriann Shaw (seven rebounds, eight points) and Paige Lunsford (eight rebounds, five assists).
 
WSC was led offensively by Ashton Yossi's 16 points, while Maggie Schulte had seven rebounds.
 
Fort Hays State will now face second-seeded Emporia State in the Sweet 16 on Monday night (March 16) at Gross Memorial Coliseum.  ESU defeated Pittsburg State on Saturday in overtime, 64-54.  Tip off is 7 p.m.