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Tiger women in key MIAA matchup
1/13/2012
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Fort Hays State University women's basketball coach Tony Hobson is in his 20th year as a collegiate head coach. He has won 466 contests at four different schools: Cloud County Community College, Barton County Community College, Hastings (Neb.) College and in three and a half seasons with the Tigers.
Hobson has seen post players see significant improvements between their freshman and sophomore seasons. However, he couldn't recall ever seeing the transformation during a year like the one Tiger center Kate Lehman currently enjoys. Lehman, a 6-foot-4 freshman from Newton, averaged four points and four rebounds during the first 12 games. In the four contests since the holiday break ended, Lehman has collected two double-doubles and has averaged 14.5 points and 10 rebounds per game.
Lehman has frequently worked outside of normal practice hours, often with assistant coach Carrie Hofstetter, in the last several weeks and helped Fort Hays enjoy a 14-2 start (6-2 MIAA).
"A young kid with confidence is a heck of a thing," Hobson said. "It makes a lot of difference. The way you get confidence is she doesn't get it from me, Carrie or anybody else. She feels like right now she is good enough to play.
"The reason is, she has been working her rear end off outside of practice to get better," he added. "That's one of the main reasons, so with that extra work, she feels like she can do it, and she is getting a chance. She will have some bumps in the road, but I am happy with where she is at right now."
On Saturday, the Tigers travel to Pittsburg State University (14-1, 8-1 MIAA) for a 1:30 p.m. start at John Lance Arena. The Gorillas are ranked No. 10 in NCAA Division II, while FHSU is just on the outside of the top-25.
"Our kids are playing well right now and we are guarding," Hobson said. "Whether we can get it done or not, I don't know. But right now is a good time to go find out."
As well, Lehman is pleased to match up with 6-3 senior forward Larissa Richards, PSU's top scorer and rebounder at 13.5 points and 8.9 rebounds a game. Richards and Lehman rank 1-2 in the conference in blocked shots with 35 and 34, respectively.
"Personally, I am excited to play against Larissa Richards," Lehman said. "...We are just excited to get into a real tough game."
In the early part of the season, Lehman often saw between 10 and 17 minutes a contest, but played sparingly in the conference games before holiday break.
She had six points and nine rebounds total in the first four MIAA contests. However, the coaching staff decided to give Lehman some more playing time in January. In addition, Lehman's extra practice has helped her improve, especially defensively and playing stronger against physical opponents.
"My defense has gotten a lot better," she said. "Moving my feet when I am guarding the perimeter, I am still not very good at it, but I am better than I was. My offense, finishing shots is better than I used to."
Lehman collected 15 points and nine rebounds in a road win against Truman State (Mo.) University, the first game back from the holiday break. Then, she tacked on 22 points and 10 rebounds in a loss at University of Central Missouri. Last Saturday, she added eight points and eight rebounds in a victory versus Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University. On Monday, she tallied 13 points and 13 rebounds in a win over Missouri Southern State University.
"Her size, she has a D-I body," Missouri Southern coach Maryann Mitts said. "She keeps the ball high and the other thing is, she doesn't make very many mistakes. She just does what she can. She plays within herself. They do a good job of leaving her in the paint."
"Anytime our post had to go help on the drive, she was always on that weak side to grab the rebound and score," she added. "The thing I respect about her, she just doesn't try to play outside of herself. She does what she can do, she plays her role on that team perfectly."
Lehman has averaged 24.3 minutes per contest in the last four games and quickly formed a strong 1-2 punch inside with sophomore Katelyn Edwards, who leads FHSU with 15.4 points and 8.3 rebounds a game. With the late surge, Lehman now averages 6.5 points and 5.4 rebounds a contest.
"We made a conscious decision to give Kate some more playing time and sometimes you just have to live with that with a few mistakes hoping that she will fight her way through it," Hobson said. "She has just came through it a lot faster than we even hoped. I think right now she is gaining confidence. Her last four games have been very, very solid against some kind of tough matchups."
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |