By GERARD WELLBROCK
Hays Post
EDMOND, Okla. - The 16th-ranked Fort Hays State women's basketball team knocked down a season-high 13 3-pointers and had four players scores in double figures as they closed out their pre-Christmas schedule with an 84-66 win over Central Oklahoma Tuesday at Hamilton Field House.
The 13 3-pointers are the most for the Tigers in a game since they buried 13 in the same building three years ago (12/15/20). In their last seven trips to Edmond, the Tigers are averaging 10 made 3-pointers per game, including three games with at least 12 triples and at least eight long-distance makes in all seven contests.
Fort Hays State (10-1, 5-1 MIAA) scored the first five points of the game on a layup from Olivia Hollenbeck and and Emma Ruddle. After Central Oklahoma (2-10, 1-5 MIAA) scored the next six points to take a one-point lead, the scored the next 10 and would never trail again.
Ruddle added two more 3-pointers in the first quarter and a triple from Kate Dilsaver pushed the lead to 13 at 21-8. Dilsaver added two more threes early in the second quarter, giving the junior a career-high three long-range makes. A traditional 3-point play from Hollenbeck put the Tigers up by as many as 15 before the Bronchos closed within 11 by the end of the second quarter at 41-30.
The Tigers continued to pour it on in the second half hitting six of nine form deep including two makes from Ellie Stearns and one each from Sydney Golladay, Jessie Sallach, Ruddle and Brooke Loewe. Golladay's triple early in the third quarter pushed the Tigers lead to 20 points at 52-32.
UCO would chip away and get within 13 and the end of the third quarter and trimmed the deficit to 10 twice in the fourth quarter. The Tigers finished the game 2-for-2 from the floor and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe over the final two minutes to hold the Bronchos at bay.
Katie Wagner led the team with a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double after hitting 9-of-10 from the charity stripe, helping FHSU to a 77.3 percent shooting day at the free-throw line (17-of-22). Hollenbeck added 14, Dilsaver a season-high 13 and 12 from Ruddle. Loewe dished out five assists, with Wagner and Hollenbeck both dishing out four assists each.
Fort Hays State hit a season-high 50.9 percent from the floor (27-of-53) and hit 61.9 percent from behind the arc (13-of-21), knocking down more than 60 percent from behind the arc for the first time in nearly three years (64.3 percent at PSU, 1/23/21).
The Tigers outrebounded UCO by 10, 37-27. Fort Hays State scored 24 fast-break points, its most in more than two years. The Tigers were credited with assists on 21 of 27 made baskets.
After playing just three of their first 11 games at home, the Tigers will return to Gross Memorial Coliseum to start a three-game homestand after the holiday break when FHSU hosts Bethany College on Saturday, December 30 beginning at 2 p.m.