FHSU Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The ninth-ranked Fort Hays State women's basketball team avenged a pair of regular season losses against Missouri Western with a 77-73 win in the semifinal round of the 2025 MIAA Championship presented by Southern Bank on Saturday.
With the win the Tigers (27-3) will move on to the conference tournament title game on Sunday afternoon where they will face off with No. 8 Pittsburg State for the second consecutive season. The women's game is scheduled to tip off at 3:30 p.m. after the Tiger men take on Central Oklahoma in the other conference championship game beginning at 1 p.m.
The Griffons (20-9) quickly built an eight-point lead in the first quarter after pouring in 3-of-6 from behind the arc in the opening quarter. A pair of Talexa Weeter 3-pointers allowed the Tigers to close within two by the end of the first frame, 19-17.
After scoring six points in the opening quarter, Katie Wagner, Katie DeGarmo quickly added five points in the first 62 seconds of the second frame to give the Tigers their first lead of the day, 22-19. Missouri Western later tied the score at 26 before a 3-pointer from Bailey Wilborn gave FHSU the lead for good midway through the second quarter.
Ellie Stearns added a 3-pointer soon after while Weeter hit two more layups, giving the sophomore 14 first-half points and stretching the Tiger lead as high as eight. But the Griffons were able to end the quarter on a 5-0 run, holding FHSU scoreless for more than four minutes to pull within 36-33 at the break.
Fort Hays State methodically pushed its lead back to eight midway through the third before a quick 6-0 Griffon run made it a two-point game, 46-44. The graduate student duo of DeGarmo and Olivia Hollenbeck answered with their own six-point run, padding the lead back to eight.
DeGarmo scored on the first possession of the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to double figures for the first time, 58-48. Fort Hays State later led by as many as 14, 64-50, with 7:25 to play.
No strangers to shaking off double-digit deficits against the Tigers after doing so twice in the regular season, the Griffons weren't done. Missouri Western poured in 4-of-7 from behind the arc down the stretch, helping the Griffons pull within one possession with 11 seconds to go.
Thanks to a 7-of-9 effort from the free-throw line over the final 63 seconds of action the Tigers were able to hold off the Griffon run once and for all.
The Tigers combined to shoot 51.7 percent from the floor (30-of-58), shooting 50 percent or better for the fourth time in the last five games and doing so for the 11th time this season.
DeGarmo led the team with 25 points and eight rebounds while finishing second on the squad with a season-high seven assists. The Maize, Kan. native now has 106 rebounds in 13 MIAA tournament games, tied for the most in a career in tournament history (Kathryn Flott, ESU, 2012-17). She also has 211 points in those games, two off the MIAA tournament scoring record (213 points, Shelley Foster, WU, 1992-95).Two days after racking up a career-high 35 points, fourth-most in a game in tournament history, Weeter racked up 21 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks against the Griffons. Wilborn recorded 10 points, three assists and two steals after knocking down 3-of-5 from behind the arc, while Brooke Loewe distributed eight assists alongside seven points. Stearns hit a pair from behind the arc, totaling six points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
The Griffons also had a pair surpass the 20-point threshold, with first team All-MIAA pick Alyssa Bonilla totaling 26 points on five 3-pointers while Laura Toffali contributed 21 points.
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The Tigers will play in the finals for the sixth time in the last eight tournaments, three more than any other school during that span. FHSU's seven appearances in the conference title game since joining the MIAA 19 years ago are second only to Emporia State during that span (nine).