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Tiger women off to hot start
1/8/2010
By CONOR NICHOLL
cnicholl@dailynews.net
Once coach Tony Hobson saw who the Fort Hays State University women's basketball team had signed for 2009-10, he thought the Tigers could turn around from a sub-.500 squad into one of the stronger Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association teams. Then, in preseason, junior point guard Jacie Hoyt, a Wichita State University transfer, suffered a knee injury and was done for the year. Still, FHSU has rebounded.
"After Jacie got hurt, I knew that would hurt us and it has, but the rest of the kids have stepped up and kind of filled the gap left by that," Hobson said. "We have had to mix and match. We are still playing without a true point guard. But they are doing what we want them to do and we are trying to get by."
Through the halfway point of the schedule, the Tigers have experienced their best season in four years. After years of 14-13 and 12-15 under former coach Annette Wiles and a 12-16 mark under Hobson last year, FHSU has opened the season 11-2 overall, 4-2 in the MIAA.
"We finally feel like we had a breakthrough," senior guard Kayla Klug, one of two four-year players, said.
In addition to nearly matching the win total from the last two winters, Fort Hays, helped by a stronger bench and improvement from nearly every returner, has starting winning on the road. The Tigers are 5-1 in road/neutral contests, including victories at Truman State (Mo.) University and University of Central Missouri last weekend. The Tigers had been 4-22 in road/neutral games the last two seasons.
"It means so much and every time we come to a place on the road, it's like, we haven't won here yet because the last four years have just been rough," Klug said. "Finally getting some wins in some different places, it feels good."
FHSU, which has never finished better than seventh in the MIAA, is in fourth place. The Tigers will play host to Southwest Baptist (Mo.) University (3-10 overall, 1-5 MIAA) on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Gross Memorial Coliseum. SBU likes to shoot the 3-pointer, with nearly 50 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. The Bearcats stand second in the conference in 3-pointers (119) and first in 3-pointers attempted (351). Senior Rachel Graves leads SBU at 13.3 points per contest.
"I don't know if it would be quite like this," Hobson said. "We should beat (University of Nebraska-Omaha in December). We played Washburn pretty tough. I really don't think there is anybody in the conference that we can't beat if we play well, so that is all that you can ask.
"We played some pretty rotten games in the first semester. Kearney, we played poor and won. Doane, we played poor and won. It's seems like we have eliminated that. We didn't play great (Monday night), but we played hard. The effort has been there. The rebounding and defense is there. If the shots go in, we are going to be tough. That's all you can ask for."
Senior guard Naomi Bancroft paces FHSU and the conference with 18.5 points a contest. Bancroft, who has battled the flu the last few games, has still scored 20 points in four straight contests. She is one of several Tigers that have shot the ball better this season. Bancroft averaged 33 percent from the field and 34 percent from beyond the arc last year. This season, she has bumped those numbers to 39 percent from the field, 35 percent from 3-point range. Klug, who shot 36 percent as a junior, has made 46 percent of her shots this season. Known for her constant motor, Klug has played better as the season has progressed.
"I hadn't been playing my best at the beginning of the year, so it's good to finally get a little more confidence in me," she said. "Just starting to feel a little healthier."
Klug has moved back and forth from shooting guard to point guard, a change that produced 10 points and four steals versus Central Missouri on Monday.
"Since Christmas, she has been solid," Hobson said. "We have been moving her back from the wing to the point and that's not easy to do, but we like to rotate them around, trying to get Talia (Miller) in there at the point a little bit and we could move Naomi to the wing and get her some easier shots. I think defensively Kayla is playing really good."
The bench, full of freshmen and junior college transfers, has helped, too. Last season, all five starters averaged at least 28 minutes a game and scored 87 percent of the team's points. This season, only two players average more than 28 minutes. The starters score 70 percent of the Tigers' points.
"We have a good bench," Klug said. "Everybody comes in, everyone is excited."
But the Tigers are missing one of their top bench players in freshman Whitney Taylor, sidelined the past three games with a stress fracture in her leg.
Monday yielded the best comeback under Hobson. Down 14 to Central Missouri, Fort Hays rallied to win by seven. Early in the second half, Hobson heard several players say, "We aren't going to quit.' "
Helped by a deeper, more talented roster than past years, FHSU had a 25-10 run for the win.
"That's one that you can kind of hang your hat on and move on," Hobson said. "I think now we know that we can win about wherever if we play well."
| 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 |