FHSU Athletics
#22 Fort Hays State (5-0, 1-0 MIAA)
at Rogers State (4-2, 0-1 MIAA)
Saturday, December 2 • 1:30 p.m.
Claremore, Okla. • Claremore Expo Center
Radio: KJLS (103.3) CLICK HERE TO LISTEN
Video: The MIAA Network CLICK HERE TO WATCH ($)
The 22nd-ranked Fort Hays State women's basketball team looks to continue its winning ways Saturday afternoon (Dec. 2) when the Tigers take on Rogers State. First tip is slated for 1:30 p.m. inside the Claremore Expo Center.
The Tigers are off to a 5-0 start to the 2023-24 season, while the Hillcats are 4-2 so far this season. Fort Hays State rallied for a 63-52 win over Northeastern State in the MIAA opener on Thursday, while Rogers State fell to Nebraska-Kearney 58-51 after leading by as many as 16 in the first half.
Fort Hays State is one of 21 remaining unbeaten teams in Division II. A win Saturday would give the Tigers six-consecutive wins to start the season, tied for the eighth-best start to a campaign in program history. The 2018-19 season began with 15-straight wins, while two seasons began with 10 victories and four others started with seven wins in a row.
Katie Wagner enters the contest with 1,251 career points, five shy of tying Tatyana Legette (2015-19) for 13th on the all-time scoring list at FHSU and 10 behind Kris Osthoff (1991-95) for 12th.
The Tigers are the only team in the MIAA with three different players averaging at least three assists per game. Sydney Golladay leads the team with 3.8 assists per game, ninth-most in the MIAA, with Wagner adding 3.4 assists per contest and Brooke Loewe chipping in 3.2 assists per night.
Olivia Hollenbeck has scored in double figures in all four career games against RSU, averaging 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest against the Hillcats. Wagner averages 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists in five matchups against RSU. She recorded one double-double and reached double figures in scoring three times. Jessie Sallach averages 8.6 points and 5.6 rebounds in five games against RSU, including two game scoring in double figures. Golladay averages 3.3 assists in three games against RSU.
The Tigers moved to 7-0 all-time against Rogers State with an 84-42 win last season (12/3/22), the largest margin of victory in series history. FHSU never trailed after hitting just under 45 percent (29-of-65) from the floor and creating 21 turnovers. Hollenbeck led the team with 18 points, with Wagner adding 17. Megan Earney poured in four 3-pointers in a two-minute span for 12 points. The Tigers dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Hillcats by 19, 47-28. FHSU grabbed a season-high 19 offensive rebounds, its most in a conference contest in more than two years. FHSU is 3-0 all-time in Claremore.
Rogers State has one of the top scoring offenses in the conference so far this season, averaging 80.7 points per game to rank third in the MIAA. The Hillcats are outscoring its opponents by an average of 26.2 points per game, second-highest in the league and sixth-best in all Division II. RSU ranks third in the country and leads the league with an assist/turnover ratio of 1.44. The Hillcats have the 11th-best rebounding margin in the nation, outrebounding opponents by 11.2 rebounds per game. Alayzha Knapp ranks seventh in the country and leads the conference with an average of 21.2 points per game. Alyza Aikins leads the MIAA with an average of 3.2 steals per game. The Hillcats are led by first-year head coach Heather Davis, who previously spent time in the MIAA as an assistant at Central Oklahoma for eight years.