Women's Basketball | 3/7/2019 9:52:32 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - In the first half, Fort Hays State junior guard Taylor Rolfs took one shot and didn’t score a point for the Tigers in their MIAA quarterfinal game against Missouri Western Thursday evening at Municipal Auditorium.

After halftime, Rolfs showed why Fort Hays zipped through conference play with one loss and ended the regular season 27-1 overall and ranked No. 3 in the WBCA top 25. The Tigers have multiple options on offense.

Holding a slim three-point lead entering the third quarter, Rolfs gave Fort Hays, the No. 1 seed, a nice cushion. Back-to-back three-pointers by her followed by a two-point field goal gave Fort Hays an 11-point advantage.

Fueled by Rolfs’ 10-point outburst, Fort Hays took a double-digit lead into the final quarter and rode it to a 71-58 victory. The Tigers will return to action 6 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

“I enjoyed it,” said Rolfs, who finished with 16 points, going six-for-nine from the field. “Lately, I haven’t been hitting shots. I focused on letting it come to me.”

All it takes, said Fort Hays coach Tony Hobson, is one player to get going and that takes the pressure off the other players.

“Different people at different times step up so it is important that they always stay engaged,” Hobson said. “I thought Taylor had as big of a game as she has had this season.”

It made sense for Missouri Western to kind of forget about Rolfs. The focus needed to be on Fort Hays junior Lanie Page, who was an outside-inside threat in the first half. She scored 12 points in the first 20 minutes and finished with 19.

And Fort Hays senior forward Tatyana Legette is always a concern for opposing teams. She went over a 1,000 career points midway through the season. She had eight rebounds, five points and four assists in the first half.

“It is really nice when one person is not hitting shots, you can look to somebody else that can get you in that groove,” said Legette, who finished with eight points, 12 rebounds and six assists. “Coach said we have had seven different players who have been leading scorers. It is nice to rely on other people and keep that effort going.”

Like they have done all season, the balanced attack proved to be too much for the Griffons to handle despite their gritty effort.

“They are a scrappy team,” Hobson said of Missouri Western. “It was a good effort by them.”

Leading the way for Missouri Western was senior Brittany Atkins, who finished with 24 points.

It took a couple of nice plays by Paige in the final minute of the second quarter for Fort Hays to hold a slim 32-29 halftime lead.

Missouri Western went into the second quarter with an 18-17 lead on a three-pointer by junior Katrina Roenfeldt.

But the Tigers quickly went back in front at the start of the second quarter on a basket by junior Belle Barbieri. Fort Hays led nearly the rest of the quarter until Missouri Western senior Melia Richardson hit a three-pointer with about minute left that gave the Griffons a 29-28 lead.

At that point, Paige, who scored seven of the Tigers’ first nine points, took over. Her three-pointer put Fort Hays back in front. And with 20 seconds left in the half, she raced down court and blocked a shot in the paint on a fast break. Paige added a free throw a few seconds later for the three-point halftime margin.

“It is a luxury,” Hobson said of having numerous players capable of scoring points. “I enjoy having it. I’d like to have it every year.”