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Tiger women fall by two, drop to ninth in MIAA standings

2/8/2008

By Matthew Clark

Special to The Hays Daily News

PITTSBURG -- Pittsburg State head coach Lane Lord, in an attempt to break a seven-game losing streak, shook up his starting lineup ... yet again.

In their 19 previous games, the Gorillas have had over 10 different starting lineups.

This time around however, it paid off as the Gorillas upended Fort Hays State 62-60 at John Lance Arena Thursday night.

"We really needed this win and the kids really deserved it," Lord said. "I am just glad that we got it done."

Brianna Buchanan led the Gorillas with 21 points -- she was the only PSU player to score in double-figures.

After a 10-0 run to close the first half, the Gorillas took a 27-22 lead into the halftime locker room.

The Tigers were able to tie the game at 33-33 with 15:14 remaining in the game.

Then, the Gorillas got a long 3-point basket from Bailey Waugh, and a foul called as the shot was in the air on Fort Hays State.

Before the ball was inbounded by the Gorillas, Fort Hays head coach Annette Wiles was whistled for a technical foul and Brianna Buchanan hit both free-throws. Over a three-second timeframe, the Gorillas took a 38-33 lead.

Waugh drained her second 3-pointer of the half to put the Gorillas up 41-35 with 14:19 to play.

Pitt State built up their lead to 55-47 with 2:19 to play, but Sheena Kuntzsch drained a 3-pointer to cut the Gorillas' lead to 55-50 with just 1:25 to play.

The Gorillas did try to turn the ball back over the Fort Hays -- not once but twice, however Pitt State was able to retain possession when Waugh was fouled but missed the front-end of the 1-and-1.

Chelsea Harris responded with a long jumper to cut the lead to 55-52.

But the Gorillas shot 4-4 from the line until Naomi Bancroft hit a three-pointer to put the Tigers within four, 59-55 with :28.8 to play.

"It just felt like there were a lot of things that were going their way in terms of us not taking care of the ball and not making our free-throws down the stretch," Wiles said.

Buchanan put the game out of reach after going 3-4 from the foul line. Fort Hays had a last-second opportunity to take the lead but a 3-point attempt from Kuntzsch fell short.

"We gave ourselves a chance to take a lead at the end of the ball game and we could not capitalize on that," Wiles said.

That was different from the last three games for the Gorillas.

"In three of the last four games, we have held the lead with about seven minutes left to play," Lord said. "The other team would make a run and we would not answer but we were able to do that tonight."

In the first half, slow play may have been a grand understatement as neither team put points on the board until the 17:55 mark when Brianna Willhite hit two free-throws.

The Gorillas went on to take a 7-5 lead after a three-pointer from Waugh with 13:37 to play in the half.

The game went back and forth until the Tigers took a 15-12 lead based on a 6-2 run at the 7:51 mark.

At that point, neither team shot the ball well. The Gorillas were just 4-19 from the field and Fort Hays was 6-19.

After the media timeout, the Gorillas pulled even at 17-17 on a long 3-point basket from Katelyn Hinkin with 5:11 to play in the half.

The Tigers retook the lead into the last media timeout of the half, but over the last 3:22 of the first half, the Gorillas outsocred Fort Hays State 10-0 to take a 27-22 lead.

In the first half, the Gorillas shot just 30 percent from the field, but the Tigers fared worse -- marking just 29 percent from the field including just 22 percent from the perimeter.

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