FHSU Athletics

WICHITA, Kan. - The Fort Hays State women's basketball team used a sharp-shooting third quarter to pull away from Newman Saturday (Dec. 12) inside Fugate Gymnasium, winning 68-48. Fort Hays State moves to 2-0 on the year, while Newman is now 2-4 after its largest home loss of the season.
 
After Fort Hays State took a slim 21-20 lead into the locker room, Newman grabbed the lead with a quick layup to start the second half. The lead would be short-lived, however, after the Tigers responded with a dominant 36-9 run over the next 11 minutes. The Tigers hit 12-of-17 from the floor over that stretch, including an eye-popping 7-of-9 effort from behind the arc.
 
Jaden Hobbs and Sydney Golladay both hit three triples over that span. The run started innocently enough, with Cydney Bergmann putting the Tigers back in front with a pair of free throws. Hobbs stretched the lead with a long-range make on the following possession before Katie Wagner made a steal on the defensive end. Wagner used a nifty move and a left-handed finish to get on the board one minute later, making it a 7-0 Tiger run.
 
Bergmann kept things rolling with a driving layup of her own before Whitney Randall buried a 3-pointer at the 6:14 mark, pushing the Tiger lead to 34-23 and wrapping up a game-high 12-0 FHSU run.
 
Newman finally broke up the run after a four minute, 13 second scoreless stretch, momentarily keeping the Tiger lead below 10. FHSU went in front by double figures for good one minute later when Golladay and Hobbs hit 3-pointers just 29 seconds apart.
 
Fort Hays State hit its final four 3-point attempts in the quarter, including a buzzer-beater from Hobbs off a pass from Golladay that pushed the advantage to 53-32. The Tigers finished the third quarter outscoring the Jets 31-11.
 
Golladay opened the final quarter with another trey before Randall dropped in a layup, stretching the Tiger lead to a season-high 26 points, 58-32.
 
A strong fourth-quarter defensive effort helped FHSU cruise to victory, holding the Jets to just two field goals and 25 percent shooting in the frame. Emma Ruddle scored her first collegiate points in the fourth, hitting a short jumper off a pass from Lauryn Reither in the final minute of the contest.
 
Neither side looked sharp in the opening half, combining for 19 turnovers and just 28.3 percent shooting. Randall and Madison Mittie both hit a pair of 3-pointers in the opening quarter, helping the Tigers to a 15-11 after 10 minutes of play.
 
Neither side hit a field goal over the final 5:08 of the second quarter, with the lone points coming on two Newman free throws in the final minute before halftime. FHSU hit less than 20 percent of its shots in the second quarter (3-of-16), but Newman wasn't much better, hitting 3-of-8 while turning the ball over seven times in the frame.
 
Four Tigers scored in double figures, including 15 from Randall, 12 from Hobbs, 11 from Golladay and 10 from Bergmann. Mittie added seven points and a team-high seven rebounds.
 
Fort Hays State dished out 17 assists, compared to just six for Newman. Hobbs led the Tigers with four assists, while Golladay and Reither both distributed three and Wagner, Randall and Olivia Hollenbeck all dished out two assists each. Hobbs and Bergmann both poked away three steals.
 
The Tigers outrebounded Newman, 38-32, while forcing 19 Jet turnovers compared to 13 FHSU miscues.
 
After hitting just 25 percent of their shots before the break (8-of-32), Fort Hays State finished the game shooting 40 percent from the floor (24-of-60) after hitting 16-of-28 in the second half (57.1 percent). The Tigers held Newman to a 32.6 percent effort from the floor (14-of-43).

Before returning home for a pair of games next weekend, the Tigers will wrap up the road trip Tuesday against Central Oklahoma in Edmond. First tip is set for 6 p.m. inside Hamilton Field House.