FHSU Athletics
No. 2 seed #9 Fort Hays State (25-3) vs.
No. 7 seed Central Missouri (17-14)
MIAA Tournament Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 6, 2025 • 8:15 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo. • Municipal Auditorium
Radio: KJLS (103.3) CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
Video: MIAA Network: CLICK HERE TO WATCH ($)
The ninth-ranked Fort Hays State women's basketball team opens postseason play Thursday evening in the quarterfinal round of the 2025 MIAA Women's Basketball Championship, presented by Southern Bank. The second-seeded Tigers (25-3) will take on No. 7 Central Missouri who at 8:15 p.m. inside historic Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo. The Jennies defeated No. 10 Emporia State 70-59 in Wednesday's opening round.
Fort Hays State has made it a tradition of playing into the weekend during the MIAA Championship, with the Tigers reaching the semifinals in each of the last seven seasons and 11 of the last 12 years. FHSU's active streak of seven-straight semifinals is the longest active streak in the league, while the Tigers' 11 trips to semifinal Saturday over the last 13 years are four more than any other program during that span.
This is Fort Hays State's 16th trip to the MIAA Championship since joining the conference 19 years ago in 2006-07. The Tigers are 22-13 all-time in the tournament, including an 11-4 record in the quarterfinals, a 3-0 record as the No. 2 seed and a 17-12 record inside Municipal Auditorium. Should the Tigers draw UCM in the quarterfinals, FHSU is 3-5 against the Jennies and 1-0 against the No. 7 seed. However if Emporia State wins on Wednesday the Tigers are 2-3 against the Lady Hornets in the tournament and have never played a No. 10 seed in the event.
The Tigers led the conference with five All-MIAA selections, including Player of the Year Katie Wagner DeGarmo and Defensive Player of the Year Olivia Hollenbeck. The graduate student duo were both first team picks, while Kate Dilsaver, Brooke Loewe and Talexa Weeter were all honorable mention recipients. Hollenbeck and Dilsaver were also listed on the MIAA All-Defensive Team.
DeGarmo is the fifth player since 1980 to earn the conference's top honor in consecutive seasons and the first to do so since Washburn's Crystal Walker in 2001-02 and 2002-03. She is the third player in school history to earn first team honors three times, joining Annette Wiles and Kate Lehman. It is her fourth All-MIAA honor overall after also picking up second team status in 2021-22.
The Maize, Kan. native led the team with 16.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, ranking third in the league in each category. She was also third in assist/turnover ratio in the league (1.9) and ranked 12th in the conference with 1.6 steals per game. She is the program record holder with 1,199 career rebounds while ranking second with 2,198 points. DeGarmo is also fourth all-time in assists, fifth in steals and second in field goals at FHSU.
Hollenbeck is the first five-time all-conference performer in school history. This is her initial first team honor after garnering third team recognition each of the last two years and honorable mention status in her first two seasons at FHSU. She is the first Tiger to earn Defensive Player of the Year honors since Kate Lehman did it in three-straight seasons between 2013 and 2015.The Lincoln, Neb. native ranked second in the conference with 2.3 steals per night while ranking third with 1.7 steals per game. She also ranked fifth in the league in scoring with 16.5 points per contest while posting the second-best field goal percentage in the league at 62.1 percent. Hollenbeck ranks fourth in school history with 1,864 points, second with 217 blocks and eighth with 200 steals in her career. She also ranks third in field goals and needs 30 rebounds to crack the top 10 list in that category at FHSU.
Dilsaver earned her first All-MIAA recognition after averaging 2.0 steals per game, third-most in the league. She ranked fourth on the team with an average of 9.1 points per game while pouring in 24 3-pointers, second-most on the squad. The senior rounded out her stat line with 4.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, making her the only player on the team to average two or more in four of the five major stat categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks).Loewe collected her first All-MIAA honor after leading the league with 192 assists this season, averaging 7.1 assists per game. The junior point guard ranks second in Division II in total assists while slotting third in average. She also ranked ninth in the league and third on the team with 1.7 steals per game while ranking fifth on the team with 7.2 points per contest. She broke the single season school record with her 192 assists and already ranks ninth in program history with 347 assists in just three seasons.
Weeter picked up her first All-MIAA award after averaging 13.1 points per game off the bench. She ranked 17th in the league in scoring, making her the only player to rank in the top 25 in the league in scoring that is not a starter for their team. She scored in double figures 20 times this year, including five games with 20 or more points. The sophomore also ranks second on the team with 5.8 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per night.
DeGarmo has totaled 168 points and 93 rebounds in 11 games in the MIAA Tournament, ranking fifth all-time in points and third in rebounds. She needs 45 points and 13 rebounds to tie the career record in each category. The graduate student averages 15.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists in league tournament contests, scoring in double figures eight times and scoring at least 20 points four times.
Should the Tigers win on Thursday, they would move on to play in the semifinal on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. while the women's title game is scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m.