Fort Hays Women Rally to Defeat Central, 71-64

By David Boyce

WARRENSBURG, Mo. -- Fort Hays State's women's basketball team gave up the first seven points in the second half, and that led to a 14-point deficit at Central Missouri.

But just when the Tigers appeared to be in trouble on a bitterly cold Monday evening at the Multipurpose Building, they heated up.

For a 10-minute period, Fort Hays took total control and it used that stretch to come away with a 71-64 victory.

The win lifted Fort Hays to 11-2 overall and 4-2 in the MIAA. Central Missouri dipped to 6-7 and 2-4.

Fort Hays showed why coaches love seniors. Naomi Bancroft, Erica Biel and Kayla Klug all came up with important plays in the second half.

"I think it really becomes noticeable in a game like this when you have to deal with adversity," Fort Hays coach Tony Hobson said. "It's easy to play when you are up 20."

Bancroft and Klug had never won back-to-back MIAA road games in their four years at Fort Hays until Monday night.

But consecutive conference road victories looked bleak when the Tigers trailed 44-30 with 18: 20 left in the second half. It was at that moment when the Fort Hays seniors took over. It started with a three-pointer by Bancroft.

"We just knew we had to go out and play hard and play better defense," Bancroft said. "We didn't play very good defense in the first half as a team.

"Everybody just started talking, some shots went in and our defense was really good. We kind of got rolling."

The defense led to some layups by Klug. After Bancroft knocked down a three-pointer to draw the Tigers within 10 at 48-38, Klug scored on three straight layups, making it 48-44. Momentum had clearly shifted in the Tigers' favor.

"Kayla started it," Bancroft said. "She got some key steals. She brought the energy. She sparked us."

When the Tigers added the inside scoring of Biel they were able to put together a 20-5 run that gave the them their first lead at 50-49 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

"I was trying to post up and take it to their big girl," Biel said. "Our guards were getting me the ball."

Fort Hays had to make plays and make free throws to win the game because Central Missouri refused to fade even when it lost its offensive rhythm.

The Jennies recovered from a 56-52 deficit and regained the lead at 57-56 on a free throw by Deidra Dace.

"They (Jennies) have a good program and they are well coached," Hobson said. "They are not going to beat themselves. I'm proud of our kids."

Hobson should be. The Tigers simply would not allow Central Missouri to recapture the momentum.

A layup by Bancroft gave Fort Hays the lead for good at 58-57 with 5:43 left.

A little over a minute later Biel hit two free throws that gave the Tigers a 62-58 lead and 30 seconds later Bancroft hit a three-pointer to extend Fort Hays' lead to 65-58.

The Jennies made one last run and closed to 66-64 on a layup by Rebecca Roberts with 52 seconds left. But two free throws by Biel followed by two more free throws by Klug put Fort Hays up 70-64 with 30 seconds left.

"I thought we hit some big free throws," Klug said. "But defense was the key."

Roberts led Central Missouri in scoring with 16 points, Dace added 15 and Kara Fleming finished with 14, but it wasn't enough for the Jennies.

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