Fort Hays Women Get Road Win over Western

By David Boyce

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Road games have caused all sorts of problems for the Fort Hays State women's basketball team. Just two days ago the Tigers lost by 21 points at Northwest Missouri.

But the Tigers found some road magic in their four-day stay in the northwestern part of Missouri.

Fort Hays scored the first nine points Monday evening at the MWSU Fieldhouse and never trailed, beating Missouri Western 66-52.

"We needed to come out hard," said Fort Hays senior Erica Biel, who finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds. "It's hard to get wins on the road."

It was just the third conference road win in seven outings for the Tigers, who improved to 15-5 overall and 8-5 in the MIAA. Missouri Western dropped to 7-14 and 5-9.

"We knew we had to pull together as a team and get this win, so we had a little team meeting," Biel said.

The Tigers definitely played like they were glad they only had one day off after losing 75-54 to Northwest Missouri.

"Saturday was not our best game, so we wanted to come out and prove something because that really wasn't our team," said freshman Traci Keyser, who finished with 14 points.

"We didn't show up Saturday, so we had all the motivation in the world to come out and play and show this is who we are and that we can play together as a team."

Keyser got Fort Hays off to a good start with a basket and junior Shelby Hillman followed with a three-pointer, staking the Tigers to a 5-0 lead.

"We just had to attack," Keyser said. "We create things when we attack and keep moving. That's what is awesome about our team is once we create things it opens a whole lot of things."

Four different players scored the first nine points for Fort Hays.

Freshman Kallie Schoonover came off the bench to finally put Missouri Western on the scoreboard with a bucket.

Despite the Griffons' struggles on offense, they managed to stay within striking distance through much of the first half. They were down 16-11 when Fort Hays took complete control of the game.

It started with a three-pointer by Keyser and she added a two-point bucket to put Fort Hays up 21-11.

After a basket by Missouri Western junior Rachel Luteyn, Fort Hays went on a 10-0 run. Capping the run were back-to-back treys by Naomi Bancroft.

One key for Fort Hays was rebounding. Biel led the way with 10 rebounds in the first half.

"I didn't realize I had that many rebounds," Biel said. "I was trying really hard to get on the boards because our last game we didn't have a very good game rebounding."

Missouri Western scored the last basket in the half and went into halftime down 33-15.

The Tigers appeared to be in complete control, but then a little of their road woes hit at the beginning of the second half.

Missouri Western scored 15 of the first 19 points in the second half and closed to 37-30 with 13:15 left. The Griffons even had the ball with an opportunity to get within five or four.

It took a few minutes for the Tigers to regroup. A layup by Missouri Western junior Lauren Nolke made it 40-33.

But that was the wake-up call Fort Hays needed. Biel followed with two straight baskets for the Tigers and that got them rolling.

Fort Hays built a 53-37 lead and was never threatened again.

The Tigers get a few days off to prepare for their next game, which happens to be on the road at Washburn on Saturday.

"It will be a test," Biel said. "We are just taking it one game at a time and hopefully get another road win."

To reach David Boyce, contributing writer for the MIAA, e-mail dboyce@themiaa.com.