The Fort Hays State women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome 21 turnovers and a nine minute scoring drought and lost 68-57 in their exhibition opener at Kansas State Thursday night. The Tigers held the lead for a good portion of the first half and took it back early in the second half before Kansas State went on a 9-2 run to grab the lead for good early in the second half.
Fort Hays State pulled within two on a steal and layup layup by Melissa Nelson with 9:39 to play, but Chantay Caron hit a key 3-point field goal for the Wildcats at the 7:51 mark to extend the Wildcats lead back to five.
Fort Hays State led by as many as six on a couple different occasions in the first half but went scoreless for over nine minutes. K-State scored 10 unanswered during the drought and built a seven-point with under two minutes to play in the first half.
Traci Keyser’s 3-pointer ended the scoreless stretch at the 1:18 mark and a Kate Edwards put back near the end of the half pulled the Tigers within four at halftime, 30-26.
Kate Lehman had a big night for the Tigers with a double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. She also had six blocked shots.
Kate Edwards and Melissa both scored nine points, Traci Keyser added eight, and Kaiameka Brown chipped in with seven, all in the second half. FHSU had just seven points from its bench. The Tigers finished the game shooting 36.8 percent from the field.
The Lady Tigers held the Wildcats to just 39.1 percent shooting from the field, including just 16.7 percent from beyond the 3-point line. The Wildcats benefitted from 21 FHSU turnovers, outscoring FHSU in points off turnovers 21-9.
Brittany Chambers led KSU with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, also adding a team-high five assists and four steals. Ashia Woods was the top scorer for the Wildcats with 19 points. Chantay Caron added 14 points.
The Lady Tigers return to exhibition action on Sunday afternoon against the University of Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. Game time is set for 2 pm with the Fort Hays Auto Sale Pregame Show at 1:40 on Tiger Radio Mix-103.