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Tiger women outlast Doane

12/17/2009

By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

She did it again.

But Fort Hays State University women's basketball coach Tony Hobson fears one of these times senior guard Naomi Bancroft won't be able to save the Tigers with her late-game heroics.

With Fort Hays down a point in the final minutes of Wednesday night's game against Doane (Neb.) College, Bancroft scored eight straight points and nine of the Tigers' final 10 in a 68-62 non-conference win at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

Bancroft -- who willed the Tigers to a victory over Northwest Missouri State University last week with 10 points in a late, game-changing run, and who had a personal 8-0 run to open up the game in Saturday's win over Missouri Western State University -- once again took over a game when the team needed her most. Bancroft finished with a game-high 24 points.

"Are we expecting her to do that every game?" Hobson said. "We can't expect her to pull it out of the fire every close game."

Fort Hays (9-1) trailed 59-58 when Bancroft hit a step-back 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:02 left in the game. Bancroft followed by hitting a runner on the left baseline on an inbounds play with 2:25 remaining, then hit a 15-footer on the left baseline with the shot clock winding down to give the Tigers a 65-59 lead with 49 seconds remaining.

"I think she shoots better under pressure than any other time," Hobson said. "She's a clutch player, hit them when we needed them most."

Bancroft hit two free throws and senior guard Kayla Klug added another in the final seconds to offset a late 3-pointer by Doane senior guard Hannah Helman, who scored a team-high 18 points.

Doane looked like anything but a .500 team entering the game, especially in the first half. Doane (6-7) enjoyed a 10-point halftime lead (38-28) and outrebounded Fort Hays 23-14 in the first 20 minutes.

"That's exactly what I expected from them," Hobson said of Doane. "I didn't get what I expected out of my team.

"Not sure our team respected them, thought they could beat them," Hobson added.

Doane took an 8-0 lead before Fort Hays got a pair of free throws from freshman Traci Keyser to get on the board with 15:18 left in the first half. The Tigers hit their first field goal on a layup by Bancroft at the 14:40 mark.

Doane, meanwhile, hit five 3-pointers in the first half and led by as many as 11 before taking the 10-point halftime lead.

"They hit some threes, opened it up," Hobson said. "I didn't expect us to come out that unprepared to play."

Fort Hays went on a 14-4 run in the second half to take its first lead since 16-15, capped by sophomore Kimber Weiser's follow shot in the lane with 8:04 left in the game. Doane regained the lead twice on baskets by senior forward Vanessa Munter, the last coming with 3:23 left.

Bancroft then took over the game, lifting the Tigers to their best start after 10 games since the 1990-91 NAIA national championship team.

Keyser had her best scoring night, adding 13 points, all in the first half. Senior guard Audra Binford also was in double figures, with 10 points.

After Helman's 18, Doane got 14 points from Munter, 12 from sophomore guard Cheryl Braithwait and 10 from sophomore forward Kristine Ortmeier.

Fort Hays is off until Dec. 30, when the Tigers play host to Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association rival Washburn University. Game time is 5:30 p.m. at GMC.

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