FHSU Athletics
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Fort Hays State Women's Basketball fell to West Texas A&M in its season opener at Municipal Auditorium on Saturday. The No. 6 ranked Lady Buffs knocked off the No. 3 ranked Tigers by a score of 71-58.
Fort Hays State led only for a minute and 14 seconds early in the game. Ellie Stearns buried a 3-point field goal to start the contest, but the Tigers would struggle to just three more 3-point field goals after that to finish 4-of-22 beyond the arc. The Tigers also had a rough day shooting the ball overall, finishing at just 22.4 percent (17-of-76).
West Texas A&M grabbed the lead 5-3 on a Zamorye Roberts 3-point field goal and never trailed again the remainder of the game. They held a 15-11 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 30-24 advantage at halftime.
The Lady Buffs built even more distance on their lead with an 8-0 run to open the third quarter. Their lead eventually reached 19 on their third 3-point make of the quarter, but the Tigers were able to whittle that back down to 14 before heading into the fourth quarter. At that point, WTAMU was hitting at a 50-percent clip beyond the 3-point line before missing their final four long distance attempts in the final frame.
The Tigers kept battling in the fourth quarter, getting the lead back inside 10 on a pair of Katie Wagner free throws with 4:04 to go. The lead slimmed down to seven on a Kate Dilsaver 3-point play with 2:52 to go, but the Lady Buffs managed the hold off the Tigers the rest of the way for an eventual 13-point win.
Wagner led the Tigers with a double-double effort of 16 points and 12 rebounds. She picked up half of her points at the free-throw line. Whitney Brown also reached double figures in scoring with 11. Sydney Golladay dished out a team-high three assists and matched Dilsaver for team high in steals with two each.
The Lady Buffs had five players reach double figures in scoring, led by Karley Motschenbacher with 17. Roberts had 14, Kyla Kane had 11, and Kamirah Decker and Braylyn Dollar each had 10. Jayla Burgess led WTAMU in rebounds with eight, while Decker dished out a team-high three assists.
The Tigers had plenty of second-chance opportunities, pulling down 17 offensive rebounds, but unfortunately scored just seven points on those opportunities.
Fort Hays State looks to bounce back on Sunday (Nov. 6) when it plays Southern Nazarene (0-1) in its second contest of the D2CCA Tip-Off Classic. The Crimson Storm fell to Nebraska-Kearney on the first day of the weekend classic.