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Tiger women prepare for MIAA leader
1/19/2010
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
On Saturday afternoon, Pittsburg State University women's basketball coach Lane Lord offered plenty of praise for the Tiger women's basketball team. Under second-year coach Tony Hobson, Fort Hays State University has seen the biggest one-season turnaround of any MIAA squad this winter, changing from a 12-15 squad last year to a 13-3 mark so far this season. Lord said the Tigers "should be ranked right now."
"Erica Biel is a heck of a player," Lord said. "I think a lot of her. She is one of the best players in the league. Certainly she was last year. She is this year. Hays has got more depth than they have had. That's why they are a good ballclub. They can play well on the road. They can play well at home. (Naomi) Bancroft is amazing."
"Their program has just improved tremendously under Tony," he added. "He is a great coach. The kids have a feeling they can win now on the road which has never happened in the past."
Fort Hays never finished better than seventh in its first three seasons of MIAA play. This year, FHSU stands fourth in the conference with a 6-3 record. For Fort Hays to move up higher, they'll need to beat a stronger squad. Currently, the Tigers are 0-2 against the MIAA's top three teams, including a 71-65 loss at Pittsburg State on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Fort Hays will have another opportunity when it faces Emporia State University, ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division II. ESU, which has won seven straight games against the Tigers, is 15-1 overall, 8-1 in the conference. Senior Cassondra Boston, a returning first team all-conference selection, paces the Hornets with 17.5 points a contest, second in the MIAA.
"You play at Pitt, at Washburn, at Emporia, if you can win one of those on the road, that's going to really matter down the road at the end of the conference season," Hobson said.
Senior guard Kayla Klug returned against Pittsburg State after she missed the previous contest with an ankle injury. Klug, FHSU's third-leading scorer at 9.3 points a contest, tallied 16 against Pittsburg State.
"We will see how she is (Sunday) after playing that many minutes on it," Hobson said Saturday. "She wasn't full speed. Maybe 75 percent. Covered it up a little bit because we played so much zone. That saved her a little bit, probably allowed her to play a few more minutes. I told her that we would put her in there sometime early in the game and see how she looked and if she looked OK, we would just play her accordingly. She did a good job considering she hasn't really practiced for a week."
Fort Hays will again be without freshman Whitney Taylor, an Ellis native and the team's first player off the bench. Taylor has missed six straight games with a stress fracture in her leg. She could return on Jan. 27 against Nebraska-Omaha.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| BB | 03/17 | Missouri S&T | W 2-1 (10) |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 6-1 |
| SB | 03/17 | Bethany | W 8-1 |
| BB | 03/16 | Misosuri S&T | L 13-4 |
| MB | 03/14 | Central Missouri | L 80-73 |
| BB | 3/13 | NW Missouri | W 13-10 |
| BB | 03/13 | NW Missouri | W 4-3 |
| MB | 03/13 | Central Oklahoma | W 80-64 |
| SB | 03/08 | Fort Lewis | W 5-4 |
| BB | 03/07 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 13-7 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 16-4 |
| BB | 03/06 | No. 9 Emporia State | W 3-0 |
| MB | 03/05 | Emporia State | L 65-61 |
| BB | 03/05 | No. 9 Emporia State | L 10-3 |
| WB | 03/04 | No. 15 Emporia | L 72-66 |
| WB | 02/28 | No. 12 Emporia State | L 87-80 |
| MB | 02/28 | Emporia State | W 94-47 |
| SB | 02/28 | Quincy | L 6-0 |
| SB | 02/27 | Mo Southern | W 9-3 |
| SB | 02/27 | Missouri S&T | L 8-3 |