Keane Thomann (Missouri Southern) and Kate Lehman (Fort Hays State) have been named MIAA Basketball Student-Athletes of the Week for the week of Feb. 13-19 as selected by a conference SID panel.
Lehman led the Fort Hays State women’s basketball team to two road wins in three days over the weekend and extended the Lady Tigers winning streak to four games overall. Lehman had a double-double in both games, a 78-71 win over Southwest Baptist and a 67-58 win at Missouri Southern. She had 11 points and 13 rebounds to go along with four blocks as she helped the Lady Tigers win for the first time against Southwest Baptist in Bolivar on Thursday. On Saturday, Lehman turned in the best performance of her young career, finishing with career highs of 28 points and 17 rebounds in 34 minutes of play. She hit 13-of-14 attempts from the field, with her lone miss coming on her final attempt with just over two minutes to play in the game. She also added six blocked shots against the Lions. The 17 rebounds ties for the 10th-most in a game in FHSU history and was the most by an FHSU player in exactly three years.
For the week, Lehman averaged 19.5 points, 15.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocked shots per game. She also had two assists and made 78.3% (18-of-23) of her field goal attempts.
Lehman, a native of Newton, Kan., has made quite an impact for Fort Hays State in her first year with the program. She has blocked a Fort Hays State single-season record 87 shots, which is currently the top mark in NCAA Division II. She is also nearing the national lead in blocks per game, averaging 3.35. Lehman ranks second on the team in both scoring (10.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.5 rpg) and she has recorded eight double-doubles, with all of them coming during the past 13 games.
This is the first MIAA Player of the Week award for Lehman in her career and second by a Fort Hays State player this season after Katelyn Edwards earned the honor for the week of November 15. The Lady Tigers return to action on Wednesday evening (Feb. 22) against No. 8 Pittsburg State. That game will tipoff at 5:30 pm from Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays.
– FHSU Sports Information –