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Fort Hays women don't back down, fall to No. 13 Hornets

1/3/2008

By NICK McQUEEN

Hays Daily News

In its first season as a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, there were games in which the Fort Hays State University women's basketball team seemed a bit scared. Or, maybe the Tigers were a bit overwhelmed.

In the 2007-08 MIAA opener Wednesday at Gross Memorial Coliseum against in-state rival and No. 13 ranked Emporia State University, the Tigers were none of the above -- and were often in control of the high-powered Hornets.

The game ended with a 68-62 loss to Emporia State, the preseason No. 1 in the MIAA, but that wasn't the focal point for eighth-year head coach Annette Wiles following her team's hard-fought, physical battle.

"It was seeing what we are capable of,"¬ Wiles said. "It was exciting to see so many of the positives out there. There were some dramatic improvements from individual players and even our collective team."

Senior forward Brianna Willhite put up a season-high 23 points, working the inside out game to its fullest in the second half. She also took advantage of Emporia State's youth underneath the basket, shooting 10-for-18 from the floor.

"We knew they were a beatable team, so we were more than fired up for this game and it showed out there on the floor," Willhite said.

From the start, Fort Hays (6-4 overall, 0-1 MIAA) produced one of its more intense outings against the two-loss Hornets, taking a 4-0 lead out of the gate on a pair of drives by senior guard Sheena Kuntzsch. Emporia State (8-2, 1-0) took nearly four minutes to put up a point.

When senior forward/guard Michelle Stueve got going for Emporia State, the preseason and two-time All-American was all the Hornets could muster. She put up the first 10, while Fort Hays got a mixture of Willhite, Kuntzsch, and sophomore guard Naomi Bancroft to maintain an 11-10 lead.

"If we can go out and play that way, we're going to find wins in this conference,"¬ Wiles said. "I am so proud of our kids and how hard they worked tonight."

Emporia State took a 12-11 lead when sophomore guard Lacy Corker, the first player other than Stueve to score, hit a short jumper in the lane with 12:09 to play in the first half. It wasn't enough to give the Hornets any momentum as Fort Hays kept the high-scoring Hornets at bay. From the 13:12 mark of the first half, Stueve, who was averaging 23 points a game, was held scoreless.

"We were helping on the screens and we had done our homework. We had a quality understanding and preparation,"¬ Wiles said. "We came into this game extremely prepared. Our kids did a good job of breaking up a lot of their plays."

In Stueve's scoring absence, junior transfer forward Ida Edwards was Emporia's answer. She scored six of her 17 points in a back-and-forth stretch with the Tigers that ended with a 28-26 lead for Fort Hays at halftime. Senior guard Meshia Mason put back a Willhite miss as the buzzer sounded.

"Meshia Mason had a lot to do with our effort tonight," Willhite said. "She really pumped up the whole floor. Everyone out there felt the intensity."

Right out of the locker room, Emporia got a 3-pointer from Corker to take a short-lived lead, but Fort Hays stayed right in the mix until the 8:40 mark when the Hornets started to build a bit of a cushion.

After the Tigers built a three-point lead, Emporia State managed a 10-0 run, working out of a full-court press. The Hornets scored four points from the foul line in that stretch, including two from Stueve -- her first points since putting up the first 10.

"Any good team is going to find ways to get the ball to their superstars,"¬ Wiles said. "The game was never out of our reach and we felt like the game was in our control at times."

With Kuntzsch in foul trouble in the final minutes, the TIgers went to a heavy dose of Willhite to keep the game close. The senior dumped in 11 of her game-high 23 points in the final five minutes, but it was free throws getting the job done for Emporia State.

"We play that sort of game against someone else and we're going to get a win," Willhite said. "We just have to keep that in mind and come out to every single MIAA game and play as hard as we did tonight."

During the final 2:32, the Hornets were 10-of-13 at the free throw line to seal the deal. A three-pointer by Bancroft, her fifth of the night, pulled the Tigers to within four, but Stueve hit a pair of foul shots with 7.3 seconds left to extend the lead back. Stueve scored eight of her 20 points at the line and six came in the final 49 seconds.

"There is no way to see that one team compares to another. Emporia is a different team, and we're a different team but you are going to make those comparisons," Wiles said

"All we have to compare it to is last year. You're never happy to lose, but the effort was there throughout the game."

Bancroft ended the night with 15 points, going 5-for-11 from beyond the arc.

The Tigers travel to Maryville, Mo. to take on Northwest Missouri State University on Saturday. The Bearcats put up 101 points in a four-point win over Southwest Baptist University in other MIAA action Wednesday.

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