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Tiger women can't match No. 20 Hornets
1/19/2012
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
EMPORIA -- Since Fort Hays State University joined the MIAA five and a half years ago, the Tiger women's basketball team has never finished better than seventh. This season, FHSU has a team that is on the cusp of the national rankings, and in the top-half of the league race.
While Fort Hays can play with anyone in the conference, it's still not among the MIAA's or country's elite, a fact both encouraging and frustrating for the Tigers.
On Wednesday, the Tigers lost 81-70 at White Auditorium to Emporia State University, ranked No. 20 in NCAA Division II.
"I like coming into these games and expecting to win," fourth-year coach Tony Hobson said.
"This might be one of the first times that we expect to come in here and win and that's one reason why it hurts so much more when you don't."
Fort Hays finished the first half of MIAA play at 14-4 overall, 6-4 in the conference. Emporia State moved to 12-3, 8-2 MIAA and won its 13th straight against the Tigers.
The Tigers are tied with University of Central Missouri for fourth place in the conference, though FHSU lost at UCM earlier this year.
"We are right there," freshman center Kate Lehman said.
The Tigers are 0-4 against squads either tied with or above them in the standings -- Central Missouri, Emporia, Washburn University and Pittsburg State University. FHSU has lost each contest by between seven and 11 points -- and been in all four games late. Fort Hays has lost two in a row, including an overtime defeat at then-No. 10 PSU on Saturday.
"I thought we played pretty well the whole game," Hobson said. "I believe that if we would have played that caliber of game at Pitt, we win by 12 points."
The Tigers dropped to 1-3 versus ranked teams this winter and 0-28 in the program's NCAA Division II history versus ranked squads on the road.
"While it's better to play a tight game like this than get blown out obviously, we came here to win a ball game," Hobson said. "As long as we maintain that attitude that we are in these things to win now -- we aren't here to keep it within 15 and feel good about ourselves, we are in these games against the top people in the league because we have got a good team ourselves and that's what we need to keep thinking."
Wednesday's game featured a matchup between two of the league's top post players, the 6-foot-4 Lehman and the Hornets' 6-3 forward Merissa Quick. Lehman, from Newton, had played against Quick, from Cheney, one time in her high school career.
Lehman started for the first time in her collegiate career and struggled early. She picked up two quick fouls and had several shots blocked. Quick scored 17 of her team-high 20 first half points before intermission.
Lehman, though, bounced back and delivered her sixth straight strong contest, and third consecutive double-double. She collected 16 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocked shots. Junior Traci Keyser paced the Tigers with 21 points.
"I just wasn't quite ready for her," Lehman said. "I expected her to be not quite as good. That sounds kind of bad, and then she blocked me a couple of times and I am just not a big fan of being blocked. I kind of got mad, and then I think it was pretty even after the first five minutes."
Fort Hays trailed 34-32 at intermission and remained close in the second half. However, Emporia State always responded when FHSU narrowed the margin. The Hornets had several key 3-pointers to keep control. Junior Rachel Hanf, ninth all-time in ESU history with 120 treys, sank three from beyond the arc. Senior Heather Robben had four treys and 20 points. Emporia State finished 7-of-13 on 3s. As well, the Hornets outrebounded Fort Hays 44-37, the first time an opponent has outrebounded the Tigers since Washburn on Dec. 7.
"They were really hot the second half," Hobson said. "A couple of times it was our mistake, but a couple of times it was just a good basketball play. ... It seemed like every open 3 they had, they hit."
With 6:51 left, Lehman scored on a layup to cut the deficit to 65-62. However, Robben quickly hit a trey to put the Hornets back up by six.
"It was just frustrating that we could just never get stops," Lehman said. "We just needed to get more stops and we would have been right in there, but every time we'd score, they would score."
Fort Hays will now start a stretch of three games versus the MIAA's middle and lower pack. On Saturday, FHSU will play host to Lincoln (Mo.) University in a 2 p.m. tipoff at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |