WICHITA, Kan. – Junior guard Jaden Hobbs made seven 3-pointers and scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Fort Hays State women to a 74-48 rout of Newman Saturday afternoon at Fugate Gymnasium.
Hobbs' seven long-range makes are the most for a Tigersince Noami Bancroft hit eight against Missouri Soutnern on January 11, 2010.
The Tiges (22-6, 13-6 MIAA) won their final five games to close out the regular season and finish in a three-way tie for fourth place in the MIAA. They will be the No. 5 seed in next week's conference tournament and play the No. 4 seed Pittsburg State at noon Friday at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
Hobbs scored 12 of her points during a 20-2 run over the final three and-a-half minutes of the second quarter in which the Tigers turned a five-point deficit into a 13 points halftime lead.
FHSU scored six of the first eight points in the third quarter to push their lead to 17. Newman (11-17, 6-13 MIAA) scored the final six points of the quarter to close within 50-39 but the Tigers scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to put the game away.
The Tigers held Newman to 23-percent shooting in the second half and expanded their lead from 17 to 20 points despite hitting only one shot during a 10 and-a-half minute stretch in the second and third quarters.
Belle Barbieri was a point shy of a double-double scoring nine points and pulling down 12 rebounds.