#4/7 Fort Hays State (0-0, 0-0 MIAA) at
#2t/2 Connecticut (0-0, 0-0 Big East)
Sunday, November 7, 2021
Noon (1 p.m. ET)
Harry A. Gampel Pavilion • Storrs, Conn.
Exhibition

Two perennial powers in the NCAA women's basketball landscape will meet up on Sunday (Nov. 7) when Fort Hays State faces off with Connecticut in an exhibition contest. Opening tip inside Gampel Pavilion on the campus of UConn in Storrs, Conn. is slated for noon CT (1 p.m. ET).

Live video will be available free-to-view via Huskies All-Access. A UConn radio stream will also be available in addition to live stats.

The Tigers are coming off their fourth MIAA championship and 12th league title overall, while UConn won the Big East regular season and tournament championships for its 50th and 51st league title. The Tigers finished last season 22-4 overall and 20-2 in conference play while reaching the Central Region semifinals. The Huskies were 28-2 overall and 18-0 in league play before falling in the national semifinals.

This is the second time the Tigers and Huskies have met up in exhibition action. Fort Hays State also opened the 2017-18 season with an exhibition contest at UConn, with the Huskies coming away with an 82-37 win (11/1/17). Current student assistant coach Kacey Kennett led the Tigers with 16 points thanks to four 3-pointers. Playing in her first game in a Tiger uniform, Whitney Randall scored four points in 15 minutes off the bench.

The Tigers return nine players from last year's conference championship squad, including the top six scorers and seven of the top eight. FHSU brings back 88.6 percent of its offensive production after losing four players that combined to score an average of 8.2 points per game. Returners include four All-Conference performers in Jaden Hobbs (first team in 2021, third team in 2020), Whitney Randall (first team in 2021), Olivia Hollenbeck (HM in 2021) and Cydney Bergmann (HM and All-Defensive Team in 2021).

Six returners were true freshmen last year that combined to play 42.8 percent of the minutes (2225:43) and score 43.9 percent of the points (31.5 ppg). Four different freshmen started at least one game last year in Sydney Golladay, Olivia Hollenbeck, Emma Ruddle and Katie Wagner while Jessie Sallach was one of just five players to appear in all 26 contests.

Fort Hays State added five players to the roster for this season, including a pair of Division I transfers and three true freshmen.
Kate Dilsaver - Named Star City Sports Youth Athlete of the Year as a senior by the Lincoln Journal Star...Played in the NCA All-Star Game after her senior year...Also highly successful in cross country and track, winning three Class A state titles in track and field...AP Scholar...Academic All-State Team.
Megan Earney - Helped Waukee HS to the Iowa Class 5A State Championship Tournament all four years, winning the title as a senior in 2021 after finishing as runner-up in 2020...Second team all-conference as a senior...Academic All-State honoree.
Grace Eck - Two-time All-State selection by Sports In Kansas...Eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in less than three seasons at Ellis HS...Served as team captain as a junior and senior...Four-time all-league selection.
Lauren West - Played two seasons at UMKC, appearing in 31 contests...Scored 64 points in her career, including a career-high 10...Buried 13 3-pointers...Earned numerous All-State honors at Millard West HS in Omaha.
Kia Wilson - Played two seasons at UNO, apparing in 40 games...Scored 178 points as a Maverick and averaged 5.4 points per game during her freshman season...Grabbed 106 career rebounds...Earned All-State honors as a senior at Manhattan HS...Played one season with former Tiger Madison Mittie.

Hobbs broke a pair of program records last season after averaging 6.0 assists per game and drilling 44.9 percent from behind the arc. And despite playing just 26 games, she finished second all-time in assists in a single season with 155 and had the fifth-most made 3-pointers with 70.

Fort Hays State ranked in the top 10 nationally in seven categories, including assist/turnover ratio (1.38, 6th), assists (421, 2nd), blocked shots (108, 4th), free throw attempts (476, 6th), free throws made (352, 3rd), rebounds (965, 7th), and turnovers per game (11.7, 8th).

The Tigers reached the 20-win plateau for the 10th consecutive season last year. That is twice as long as the next-best active streak in the MIAA (UCM, five).

Fort Hays State tied the MIAA record for conference wins in a season after going 20-2 in conference play.

Fort Hays State sits atop the preseason MIAA Coaches Poll and is tied for first in the Media Poll. It is the second time the Tigers have been ranked first in the preseason conference rankings and its the 10th year in a row the Tigers have been listed in the top five.

The Tigers also did not have to look very far down the national rankings to find their name, with FHSU coming in fourth in the initial WBCA DII Coaches Poll and seventh in the preseason D2SIDA Media Poll. It is the highest preseason ranking ever for the Tigers in the coaches poll. FHSU is 110-31 all-time when ranked in the coaches poll, including a 10-1 record when ranked fourth.

Head coaches Tony Hobson and Geno Auriemma have a combined 1,814 wins to their name over 65 years of coaching, an average of nearly 28 wins per season. Hobson is entering his 30th year as a collegiate head coach with a record of 695-211, just five wins shy of 700 career victories. Auriemma is now in his 37th year with the Huskies and has accumulated a record of 1,119-144 since 1985.