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Fort Hays women win on road
11/25/2009
By BUCK MAHONEY
Special to the Hays Daily News
KEARNEY, Neb. -- For 30 minutes, the University of Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team overcame its turnovers.
But in the last 9 minutes, Fort Hays State University found its stride and pulled away for 55-50 victory Tuesday night at the UNK Health and Sports Center.
"We were going to make an effort to get it inside in the second half," Fort Hays coach Tony Hobson said. "I thought we had a decided advantage in the post, but we weren't executing enough to get it in there. We were impatient, taking bad shots.
"We did a better job of that, got to the line a little bit because we were getting it inside. And that opened up a couple outside shots for us, too."
Inside meant getting the ball to Erica Biel, who was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line as the Tigers rallied from a 42-36 deficit to lead 52-44.
Biel finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Naomi Bancroft hit a pair of 3-pointers during the run, on her way to 11 points.
Kayla Klug led the Tigers (3-0) with 15 points after making 5-of-7 field goal attempts, including the only 3-pointer Fort Hays hit in the first half.
Klug and Biel combined to go 8-of-12 in the first half, but rest of the team was 1-of-20. The shooting slump included a 3-for-14 start.
"There was no way we could play as poorly as we did in the first half two halves in a row, I didn't think," Hobson said. "We were impatient. We've been shooting the ball very well and when the first four or five didn't go in, we didn't know what to do."
But the Lopers couldn't keep control of the ball long enough to pull away.
With 16 first-half turnovers, the Lopers led just 25-22 at halftime and never had a double-digit lead.
"It's something we've struggled with so far," UNK coach Carol Russell said of the turnovers. "One thing tonight was our chemistry. We had three kids in the mix who haven't been in there the first three games, and it kind of affected us as far as turnovers go."
The Lopers (0-3), who suited up seven players in the season-opening road trip to Minnesota, pulled three out of the training room to stretch the roster to 10 players.
Sophomore guard Debi Johnson led the Lopers with 13 points and three assists, while freshman post player Kelsey Lane scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. Senior Kim Thissen missed a double-double by a basket, scoring eight points and collecting 12 rebounds.
UNK finished with a 50-37 edge in rebounds.
"I thought they guarded us really well and they hurt us on the boards," Hobson said. "They were more physical on the glass and I thought they looked like the hungrier team, and that bothered me a little bit."
UNK shot just 26 percent in the second half, but still managed to cut the lead to 52-49 with 45 seconds left. Fort Hays freshman Whitney Taylor made 3-of-4 free throws in the last 20 seconds, her first free throws of her career, to put the game away.
| Scoreboard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Score |
| 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 |
| SB | 02/27 | Drury | W 17-10 |
| BB | 02/27 | Mo. Western | W 17-0 |
| BB | 02/27 | Mo. Western | W 3-2 (10 inn.) |
| BB | 02/26 | Mo. Western | W 12-8 |
| BB | 02/26 | Missouri Western | W 11-10 |
| MB | 02/24 | Pittsburg State | W 69-60 |
| WB | 02/24 | Pittsburg State | L 78-74 |
| MB | 02/21 | Mo. Southern | L 76-57 |