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FHSU women fall in overtime
1/22/2012
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Fort Hays State University women's basketball coach Tony Hobson believes close games are decided by rebounding and free throws. On Saturday afternoon against Lincoln (Mo.) University, FHSU shot 7-of-16 (44 percent) from the foul line. Hobson believed it was the worst free throw percentage by one of his teams in 25 years of coaching.
Fort Hays outrebounded Lincoln by three, but Lincoln grabbed two offensive rebounds in the final seconds of overtime. The rebounds eventually led to a foul by Tiger sophomore Katelyn Edwards on Lincoln sophomore Bria Dillard. Dillard hit two free throws with 3.5 seconds left and Fort Hays suffered a disappointing loss, 76-75, at Gross Memorial Coliseum.
"We gave them three chances at the end of overtime without rebounding the ball," Hobson said. "They beat us to loose balls and they made their free throws. End of story."
The free throws and last-second foul trumped a strong offensive contest from Fort Hays and Edwards, who scored a career-high 33 points on 15-of-24 shooting.
FHSU, which was shooting 37 percent in conference play, sank 49 percent of its shots. Lincoln shot 38 percent from the field, but went 10-of-11 from the foul line.
"I feel like we are not having trouble scoring the ball as a team," Edwards said. "We are not playing the kind of defense that we were at the beginning of the season and that's what hurt us, too. I think free throws are a big part of it, too."
Fort Hays, receiving votes in the national rankings, lost its third in a row, and dropped to 14-5, 6-5 in the MIAA. Lincoln ended a five-game skid in MIAA play and moved to 11-6, 5-6 in the MIAA. Two of the Tigers' three consecutive losses have come in overtime. All five of FHSU's defeats have come within 11 points.
"You have to make some free throws," Hobson said. "If we continue to miss free throws down the stretch like that, we are going to lose close games."
Freshman center Kate Lehman delivered another solid performance with 21 points, seven rebounds and a career-high eight blocks. However, Lehman, a 60 percent free throw shooter, went 1-of-7 from the foul line.
Junior Traci Keyser, Fort Hays' school-record holder for single-season free throw percentage and an 88 percent free throw shooter this winter, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 32 seconds left in regulation, and FHSU up 70-68. It marked Keyser's first missed foul shot since Jan. 4.
"You can go right down the line," Hobson said. "We've just got to get that out of our head and be more clutch. We have to make those."
In the first half, Fort Hays committed 10 turnovers and Lincoln, the conference's second-leading team in steals per game, collected eight steals. The Blue Tigers outscored Fort Hays 15-6 in points off turnovers and led 41-39 at intermission. Junior Arriana Walker paced Lincoln with 19 points and three steals.
"We didn't take care of the ball," Hobson said. "We had 10 turnovers at the half, five or six we just gave to them. They weren't forced. They were just loose plays by our guards and we weren't strong with the ball. (Lincoln) is very quick, athletic. On the ball defense is good. If you are half a count slow on your handling, they are going to get a hand on it."
Fort Hays, led by Edwards and Lehman, took the lead at 55-53 with 8:42 left on a Lehman layup.
Lehman, averaging 15.7 points per contest in the last seven games, scored in her usual way: layups, turnaround jumpers and post moves.
Edwards scored often on the inside, but also displayed a long-range game for the first time all season.
Edwards had been hitting treys in practice, but Hobson said she'd been "reluctant" to take them in games. On Saturday, Edwards finished 2-of-5 on 3s. She was 0-of-3 for the season before the contest. In school annals, Edwards' 15 field goals tied for fourth all-time for a single game. Her 33 points were two off the top-10 list in FHSU history.
"That used to be all that I did," she said. "They were sagging off me and I just decided if they were going to do that, then I was going to have to do something else."
Fort Hays pushed its lead to seven with 7:02 left in regulation, but the Tigers' poor free throw shooting kept Lincoln in the game.
"I am dumbfounded by it," Edwards said. "We are a lot better free throw shooters than what we showed tonight."
FHSU had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but couldn't get a good shot off. In the overtime, Fort Hays led 75-74 on an Edwards layup with 1:38 left.
Lincoln started the game-winning possession with 32 seconds remaining. Walker missed two jumpers before Edwards fouled Dillard near the basket when she turned to shoot.
"I thought I might go and get my hand on it and then she turned into me," Edwards said. "I thought we had the rebound and I was probably in bad position to begin with."
Fort Hays will have a week off before they travel to Northwest Missouri State University next Saturday for the start of a three-game road trip.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 2/18 | SW Baptist | L 66-53 | |
| 12/1 | Oklahoma - Panhandle | L 66-60 (OT) | |