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Tiger women fall behind early in loss

1/13/2008

By NICK McQUEEN

Hays Daily News

BOLIVAR, Mo. -- On the road in conference play, every possession counts.

On the road in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association against the highest scoring team in the league, the over-used cliche holds particularly true.

The Fort Hays State University women's basketball team found this to be true the hard way in an 81-67 loss to Southwest Baptist University at the Meyer Sports Center on Saturday.

"When we go out on the road, we depend so much on our seniors and our leadership," Tiger coach Annette Wiles said. "To have the turnovers early in that ball game like we did, we felt like we had scoring opportunities and we just couldn't put the ball in the hole.

"If we're going to step out there and turn the ball over -- especially in the first five minutes of that game like we did -- this is what we're going to have to come to expect," the coach added.

The Tigers had 28 turnovers (mostly early) against the hot-shooting, high-pressure Bearcats, and managed just a 32-percent shooting effort in the first half, falling to 7-6 overall and 1-3 in MIAA play.

Southwest Baptist (11-2, 3-1), on the other hand, maintained an already-substantial halftime lead and turned it into the Bearcats' third conference straight conference win since dropping their opener to Northwest Missouri State University, a 50-45 winner over No. 4 ranked Washburn University in other action Saturday.

Coming off a 91-72 victory at home Wednesday over Truman State (Mo.) University, the Tigers matched the intensity of the win, but fell into a hectic game plan the Bearcats put forth with a full-court pressure defense.

"The unfortunate part is we worked for two days on breaking the pressure with the post players at half-court and releasing the guards for the layup," Wiles said. "For whatever reason, our starters couldn't go out on the floor and do exactly what we talked about. Somehow, we sub to the bench and our players do what we asked them to do and we got layup after layup."

Thanks to turnovers and miscues early, scoring opportunities were few and far between for Fort Hays. Had it not been for a few turnovers and fouls on the part of Southwest Baptist, the Tigers' early points would have been even more scarce. When the Tigers did start breaking the pressure, the shots weren't falling. The Tigers were 8-for-25 from the field before the break, while Southwest Baptist reeled off five first-half 3-pointers to spread the gap, using offensive rebounds early by 6-foot-3 senior center Kelly Reinkemeyer to build up a 24-8 lead.

"It's disappointing that we're down 20 points before we decide to listen and respond to coaching," Wiles said. "(Southwest Baptist) is a team that plays well at home, as do a lot of teams in this conference."

Playing on the road is a conundrum Wiles and the Tigers have yet to solve. In both of Fort Hays' MIAA home games, the Tigers have played well, taking nationally-ranked Emporia State University to the wire, and upending one of the hottest teams in the conference in Truman State.

"It's disappointing to think that we can plays as hard as we can like we did on our home court against Truman, and then we can't have the maturity, the experience, and the leadership to carry that out on the road three days later," Wiles said. "It's frustrating."

The Tigers narrowed the gap to 17 by halftime, but 13 was as close as the Tigers would get in the second half. Wiles pulled her starters around the 10-minute mark after the break.

"At this juncture, it's about our team coming to play. We have a starting group for a reason and we expect them to get us off to a good start," Wiles said. "This is the second time in a row on the road where were down 12, 18 and 20 points, and we were trying to make comebacks late in the game, and it's just getting old.

"We're going to have to have players respond or we're going to have to start making some adjustments with our lineups," she added.

Senior forward Brianna Willhite dumped in 20 points to lead the way for the Tigers.

The Bearcats were led by 19 points for Courtney Heady off the bench.

The Tigers host Washburn in 5:30 p.m. MIAA action at Gross Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday.

Assistant sports editor Nick McQueen can be reached at (785) 628-1081, Ext. 128 or by e-mail at nmcqueen@dailynews.net.

SW Baptist 81, Fort Hays 67

Fort Hays (7-6, 1-3)

Brianna Willhite 8-12 4-7 20, Naomi Bancroft 4-10 0-0 10, Kuntzsch 1-4 1-2 3, Biel 1-5 5-6 7, Mason 2-3 0-0 4, Klug 1-5 0-0 2, Long 1-2 0-0 2, Boling 0-1 1-2 1, Harris 1-3 0-0 2, Cornett 3-5 2-3 8, Dreitz 1-1 0-0 2, Huston 1-1 0-1 2, Bessert 1-3 2-3 4. Totals -- 25-55 15-24 67.

Southwest Baptist (11-2, 2-1)

Courtney Heady 9-14 0-0 19, Rachel Graves 5-9 1-2 13, Erika Souza 5-12 3-4 14, Darla Gatschenberger 3-10 2-2 10, Creed 0-2 0-0 0, Reinkemeyer 3-8 0-0 6, Shewmaker 3-4 0-0 8, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Acker 0-0 1-2 1, Fugitt 0-2 0-0 0, Cutbirth 4-4 0-0 8, Fowler 0-0 0-0 0, Elfrink 0-0 0-0 0. Totals -- 33-67 7-10 81.

Fort Hays 27 40 -- 67

Southwest Baptists 44 37 -- 81

3-point goals -- 1 Fort Hays 2-12 (Kuntzsch 0-1, Biel 0-1, Bancroft 2-8, Klug 0-1, Cornett 0-1); Southwest Baptist 8-23 (Creed 0-2, Graves 2-3, Shewmaker 2-2, Souza 1-5, Heady 1-5, Gatschenbergber 2-4, Fugitt 0-2). Total fouls -- Fort Hays 13, Southwest Baptist 20. Fouled out -- none.

Rebounds -- Fort Hays 42 (four with 4); Southwest Baptist 29 (Reinkemeyer 5). Assists -- Fort Hays 12 (Mason 3, Klug 3); Southwest Baptist 23 (Souza 7. Steals -- Fort Hays 14 (Long 3); Southwest Baptist 18 (Graves 4). Blocks -- Fort Hays 1 (Biel); Southwest Baptist 0. Turnovers -- Fort Hays 28, Southwest Baptist 22. A --723.

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