#4 Fort Hays State at the Hillyard Women's Basketball Tip-Off Classic
Friday-Saturday, November 12-13, 2021
St. Joseph, Mo. • MWSU Fieldhouse
Friday vs. #RV Southeastern Oklahoma State • 5:30 p.m.
Radio: KJLS (103.3-FM)
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Saturday vs. Sioux Falls • 1:30 p.m.
Radio: KAYS (94.3-FM/1400-AM)
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The No. 4 Fort Hays State women's basketball team will open the 2021-22 regular season this weekend (Nov. 12-13) in St. Joseph, Mo. at the Hillyard Women's Basketball Tip-Off Classic, hosted by Missouri Western State University. The Tigers will face off with a pair of regional opponents inside the MWSU Fieldhouse, including a matchup with Southeastern Oklahoma State on Friday beginning at 5:30 p.m. and a date with Sioux Falls on Saturday starting at 1:30 p.m.
Daily general admission tickets are available for $10 and are good for both games each day. FHSU will play in the first contest on both Friday and Saturday.
The Tigers return nine players from last year's conference championship squad, including the top six scorers and seven of the top eight. FHSU brings back 88.6 percent of its offensive production after losing four players that combined to score an average of 8.2 points per game. Returners include four All-Conference performers in Jaden Hobbs (first team in 2021, third team in 2020), Whitney Randall (first team in 2021), Olivia Hollenbeck (HM in 2021) and Cydney Bergmann (HM and All-Defensive Team in 2021).
Six returners were true freshmen last year that combined to play 42.8 percent of the minutes (2225:43) and score 43.9 percent of the points (31.5 ppg). Four different freshmen started at least one game last year in Sydney Golladay, Olivia Hollenbeck, Emma Ruddle and Katie Wagner while Jessie Sallach was one of just five players to appear in all 26 contests.
Fort Hays State added five players to the roster for this season, including a pair of Division I transfers and three true freshmen.
Kate Dilsaver - Named Star City Sports Youth Athlete of the Year as a senior by the Lincoln Journal Star...Played in the NCA All-Star Game after her senior year...Also highly successful in cross country and track, winning three Class A state titles in track and field...AP Scholar...Academic All-State Team.
Megan Earney - Helped Waukee HS to the Iowa Class 5A State Championship Tournament all four years, winning the title as a senior in 2021 after finishing as runner-up in 2020...Second team all-conference as a senior...Academic All-State honoree.
Grace Eck - Two-time All-State selection by Sports In Kansas...Eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in less than three seasons at Ellis HS...Served as team captain as a junior and senior...Four-time all-league selection.
Lauren West - Played two seasons at UMKC, appearing in 31 contests...Scored 64 points in her career, including a career-high 10...Buried 13 3-pointers...Earned numerous All-State honors at Millard West HS in Omaha.
Kia Wilson - Played two seasons at UNO, appearing in 40 games...Scored 178 points as a Maverick and averaged 5.4 points per game during her freshman season...Grabbed 106 career rebounds...Earned All-State honors as a senior at Manhattan HS...Played one season with former Tiger Madison Mittie.
Wagner led the Tigers in both scoring and rebounding in Sunday's exhibition at UConn, totaling 11 points and seven rebounds. Hollenbeck also scored in double figures, racking up 10 points, two rebounds and two assists. Four different Tigers hit shots from behind the arc, including two each from Hobbs and Randall and one from West and Dilsaver.
Hobbs broke a pair of program records last season after averaging 6.0 assists per game and drilling 44.9 percent from behind the arc. And despite playing just 26 games, she finished second all-time in assists in a single season with 155 and had the fifth-most made 3-pointers with 70.
Fort Hays State ranked in the top 10 nationally in seven categories, including assist/turnover ratio (1.38, 6th), assists (421, 2nd), blocked shots (108, 4th), free throw attempts (476, 6th), free throws made (352, 3rd), rebounds (965, 7th), and turnovers per game (11.7, 8th).
The Tigers reached the 20-win plateau for the 10th consecutive season last year. That is twice as long as the next-best active streak in the MIAA (UCM, five).
Fort Hays State tied the MIAA record for conference wins in a season after going 20-2 in conference play.
Fort Hays State sits atop the preseason MIAA Coaches Poll and is tied for first in the Media Poll. It is the second time the Tigers have been ranked first in the preseason conference rankings and its the 10th year in a row the Tigers have been listed in the top five.
The Tigers also did not have to look very far down the national rankings to find their name, with FHSU coming in fourth in the initial WBCA DII Coaches Poll and seventh in the preseason D2SIDA Media Poll. It is the highest preseason ranking ever for the Tigers in the coaches poll. FHSU is 110-31 all-time when ranked in the coaches poll, including a 10-1 record when ranked fourth.
Head coach Tony Hobson enters his 30th year as a collegiate head coach with a record of 695-211, just five wins shy of 700 career victories. He is 282-105 in his 13 seasons as head coach at Fort Hays State.
The Tigers have never played either the Savage Storm or the Cougars before this season. FHSU has played 130 different schools in the history of the women's basketball program, going 81-49 when facing off with a school for the first time. Hobson is 16-3 in games against schools FHSU had never previously played.
FHSU is 8-6 in St. Joseph, Mo. under Hobson, including a 4-0 mark in neutral-site contests. This is the third time the Tigers have opened the year in St. Joseph over the last six seasons (2016-17, 2019-20).
The Tigers are 7-1 against GAC teams under Hobson and 16-12 all-time against current GAC institutions. FHSU is 17-2 against current NSIC programs under Hobson and 44-16 all-time.
Fort Hays State has won its last 17 season openers, with the last loss coming in 2003.
The Tigers have dominated non-conference play of late, winning their last 43 regular season, non-conference contests and 76 of the last 77. FHSU is 84-5 in regular season, non-conference games under Hobson.
Scouting the Opposition
Southeastern Oklahoma State
-The Savage Storm are receiving votes in the preseason WBCA coaches poll, sitting in 39th place in the country.
-SEOSU posted a 13-8 record a year ago, advancing to the GAC postseason championship game before falling to Southern Nazarene.
-The Savage Storm return 10 players in addition to five true freshmen.
-They return 72.4 percent of their scoring, including their top two scorers from a year ago and six of the top seven.
-Kamryn Cantwell and Briley Moon are back after earning first team All-GAC honors last season. Cantwell led the team with 16.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game, while Moon added 15.8 points, 6.2 boards and 2.4 assists each night. Both players hit more than 40 percent of their shots from behind the arc.
-As a team, the Savage storm averaged 66.2 points per game, hitting 43.5 percent from the floor and 37.8 percent from deep. They were outrebounded by an average of 3.4 rebounds per game.
-Head coach Darin Grover is in his 17th year at SEOSU, accumulating a 248-193 record to date.
Sioux Falls
-Sioux Falls went 8-6 in 2020-21 after bowing out in the quarterfinals of the NSIC tournament against Minnesota Duluth.
-The Cougars return 10 players and added 11 newcomers, including two transfers and nine freshmen.
-USF returns 70.5 percent of its offensive production, including six of its top seven scorers from a year ago.
-Anna Brecht is back after earning first team All-NSIC honors a year ago. She led the team with an average of 18.0 points per game while adding 5.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per contest.
-Transfers include a grad transfer from Concordia-St. Paul in Danielle Schaub and sophomore Madison Birnbaum from Newman.
-Sioux Falls averaged 71.6 points per game a year ago while grabbing 41.1 rebounds per game, an average of 4.2 more than its opponents per contest.
-Head coach Travis Traphagen is in his 14th season with the Cougars. He carries a career record of 251-124 at USF.
Looking Ahead
The Tigers will play the first of 15 regular season home games next weekend when FHSU hosts St. Cloud State on Friday (Nov. 19) at 6 p.m. and Cameron on Saturday (Nov. 20) at 4 p.m. Newman will also be playing neutral site contests two hours before the Tigers on each day against the same team in reverse order.