KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Washburn guard Ebonie Williams was chosen as MIAA Player of the Year, and Pittsburg State head coach Lane Lord was selected as MIAA Coach of the Year to headline the 2011-12 all-conference women’s basketball team released Monday by the league office. The selections were made by the league’s 11 head coaches, and coaches were not permitted to vote for their own players.

Williams was named player of the year after leading Washburn to its eighth MIAA Championship and seventh in 10 years. The senior from Hagerstown, Md., finished fourth in the MIAA in scoring with 15.3 points per game, was third in the league in field goal percentage (.521) and led the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (.500). Williams was also the lone unanimous selection for All-MIAA First Team.

Lord earned his first coach of the year honor after guiding Pittsburg Stateto a 17-3 league record and the No. 2 seed in the MIAA Tournament. The Gorillas went 24-4 overall, including a 12-1 record at home. It was the best conference winning percentage for a Pittsburg State women’s squad since the 1991-92 team went 14-2 in the MIAA.

Emporia State junior guard Jocelyn Cummings was selected as the MIAA Defensive Player of the Year. The Overland Park, Kan., native was the leader on the defensive end for the Lady Hornets as they finished second in the conference in team defense, giving up just 59.2 points per game.

Pittsburg State guard/forward Lizzy Jeronimus is the MIAA Freshman of the Year after finishing eighth in the conference in scoring (14.2 ppg), ninth in rebounding (6.9 rpg), and ninth in assists (3.0 apg). The Lenexa, Kan., product was also an All-MIAA First Team selection.

Pittsburg State led the league with five All-MIAA selections, followed by Central Missouri, Fort Hays State, Southwest Baptist and Washburn with three each, Lincoln, Missouri Western and Truman with two each, and Emporia State, Missouri Southern and Northwest Missouri with one each.

The MIAA Centennial Basketball Championships begin Thursday at Municipal Auditorium in Downtown Kansas City with the women’s first round. Women’s award winners and All-MIAA First Team selections will be recognized prior to the 6 p.m. game Thursday evening.

2011-12 ALL-MIAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Ebonie Williams, Sr., G, Washburn

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Jocelyn Cummings, Jr., G, Emporia State

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
Lizzy Jeronimus, G/F, Pittsburg State

COACH OF THE YEAR
Lane Lord, Pittsburg State

FIRST TEAM
Ebonie Williams, Sr., G, Washburn**
Jessica Koch, Sr., G, Missouri Western
Lizzy Jeronimus, Fr., G/F, Pittsburg State
Nicole Caddell, Sr., F, Central Missouri
Vivian Essuon, Sr., C, Lincoln

**Unanimous Selection

SECOND TEAM
Heather Robben, Sr., G, Emporia State
Becka McHenry, Jr., G, Truman
Katelyn Edwards, So. G, Fort Hays State
Stevi Schultz, Sr., G, Washburn
Brooke Conley, Sr., G/F, Pittsburg State

THIRD TEAM
Larissa Richards, Sr., C, Pittsburg State
Erin Rice, Jr., F, Missouri Southern
Cassie Lombardino, Sr., C, Washburn
LaKendra Smith, Sr., C, Southwest Baptist
Kate Lehman, Fr., C, Fort Hays State

HONORABLE MENTION
Alyssa Rhodes, Sr., G, Central Missouri
Taylor Hanson, Sr., G, Central Missouri
Crista Bechard, Sr., G., Fort Hays State
Arriana Walker, Jr., G, Lincoln
Alicia Bell, Jr., G, Missouri Western
Abby Henry, Sr., G, Northwest Missouri
Drew Roberts, Jr., G, Pittsburg State
Alexa Bordewick, So., G, Pittsburg State
Jacqui Zelenka, So., F, Southwest Baptist
Brittany Dukes, Jr., G, Southwest Baptist
Breanna Daniels, Sr., G, Truman

ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Jocelyn Cummings, Jr., G, Emporia State
Kate Lehman, Fr., C, Fort Hays State
Nicole Caddell, Sr., F, Central Missouri
Larissa Richards, Sr., C, Pittsburg State
Arriana Walker, Jr., G, Lincoln

– MIAA Media Relations –

The Fort Hays State Tiger wrestlers sent six wrestlers to the NCAA Division II National Championships after finishing in the top four at the NCAA Division II Super Regional 4/RMAC Championships hosted by FHSU on Saturday and Sunday (Feb 25-26). Three Tigers finished second:  Jusin Glenn, Walker Clarke and C.J. Napier; Tanner Kriss placed third and Collin Hase finished fourth. Derek Koehn also moved on to the championships. The Tiger team placed fourth overall with 92.5 points. Nebraska-Kearney won the RMAC Championship, earning 115 points.

After advancing to the 285-pound championship bout, Justin Glenn dropped a tight overtime match to Paco Retana of Colorado Mesa. Glenn went 2-1 in the event. A native of Enid, Okla., Glenn won two decisions. In his first bout, Glenn won, 5-1, over RJ Boylan of CSC. To advance to the finals, Glenn defeated Taylor Stam of Adams State by a 6-3 score.

Walker Clarke dropped a close 4-3 decision to Nick Peterson in the 184-pound championship match. Peterson used a late takedown to down Clarke. Before his one loss, Clarke won two straight to advance to the finals. After an opening round bye, Clarke used a 5-3 decision to defeat Kyle Piatt of Western State. In his second match, Clarke won, 3-2, over Ross Brunkhardt of Nebraska-Kearney.

C.J. Napier moved all the way to the 141-pound finals, but dropped a 10-0 major decision to No. 1 Dalton Jensen of UNK. Napier won two-straight matches to make it to the championship bout. The sophomore from Columbus, Kan. won an 8-4 decision over CJ York of Western State and also defeated James Martinez of Colorado Mesa, 7-3.

Tanner Kriss placed third in the 197-pound class to advance to the National Championships. After falling in his first match in overtime on Saturday, 3-1, to Samuel Mangum of Western State College, Kriss won four straight matches to finish third. Kriss won his first two matches via pins over Justin Rockhill of New Mexico Highlands (0:59) and Cody Johnson of Colorado State-Pueblo (5:24). Kriss’s next two wins came in decisions. He defeated Chris Leak of CSC, 9-2, and then won a 8-4 decision over Matt Lenagh of UNK in the third place bout.

In the 125-pound class, Collin Hase advanced to Nationals with a fourth place finish. Hase started the tournament with a 5-4 decision win over Dustin Stiegemeyer of Western State College then dropped a close 9-7 decision to eventual champion Gerald Huff of Adams State. The junior from Silver Lake, Kan. defeated Andrew Yu of San Francisco State via a pin at 1:43 to advance to the third place bout. In a rematch with Stiegemeyer, Hase lost this time, 5-4, as Stiegemeyer notched a takedown with one second left in the final period.

Although he finished in fifth place, Derek Koehn advanced to the NCAA National Championships based on his win over fourth-place finisher Daniel Kelly of Adams State. Koehn won a 6-4 overtime decision over Kelly in a second round bout. The sophomore from Pittsburg, Kan. went 3-2 at the event. In the opening round, Koehn won a close 1-0 decision over Travis Saxon of New Mexico Highlands then defeated Kelly of ASC. After falling to Jon Gappmaier of Colorado Mesa in a tech fall, Koehn dropped his second match, 10-0, to Teddy Bristol to move to the fifth-place match. The fifth-place match saw Koehn pin Steven Kelly of Colorado Mines at 2:58 to take fifth place.

Mitchell Means placed fifth at 149 pounds, and Sam Thoman finished sixth in the 165-pound class for the Tigers.

The NCAA Division II National Championships take place on March 9-10, hosted by Colorado State-Pueblo in Pueblo, Colo.

– FHSU Sports Information –

The Fort Hays State baseball team dropped the rubber match of the three-game series at West Texas A&M on Sunday by a score of 9-6. The loss puts FHSU at 1-2 on the young season.

FHSU looked to be in good shape with a 5-1 lead after five and a half innings, but West Texas A&M stormed back for five runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to take the final game of the series.

The Buffs struck first in the third inning with a run, but FHSU tied the game in the fourth on a ground ball double play off the bat of  Brett Macari. Nash Smith broke the tie with an RBI double in the fifth and then Mace Krolhit a three-run homer, the first home run of the season by a Tiger, to extend the lead to 5-1.

West Texas A&M came alive in the sixth against reliever Connor Beer, scoring five runs against him in his inning of work. Kyle Leroy surrendered the last two runs to the Buffs. Starter Shawn Lewick went 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one earned run with three hits and two strikeouts.

The Tigers host their first home series of the season next weekend in Hays against Northwest Missouri State. That will be the first conference series of the season, a four-game series starting on Friday.

– FHSU Sport Information –

The Fort Hays State softball team won their third game of the weekend with a 6-0 win over St. Mary’s (Tex.) on Sunday morning at the 2012 Best Western Premier Spring Fling in Denton, Texas. The Tigers went 3-2 on the weekend and have improved their record to 7-3, which ties for the best record through 10 games in FHSU history.

Fort Hays State got a run in both the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. Amanda Vaupel drove in the first run with a single while Madison Putnam added an RBI single in the second.

The rest of the damage was done in the sixth, when the Tigers scored four runs but were aided by three Rattler errors. Adriana Wortley reached on an error to open the inning and then moved up to second on a Vaupel single. After a sacrifice bunt from Chelsey Rottinghaus avanced the runners to second and third, FHSU batters Callie Wright and Christian Moses each got hit by a pitch, scoring Wortley. Yasnaya Susoeff, pinch running for Moses, and Wright would come around to score unearned runs while Vaupel also plated in the inning to give the Tigers a 6-0 lead.

That would be more than enough run support for Maddie Holub, who struck out 13 batters and allowed just three hits as she improved to 4-2 on the year. Holub did, however, walk five batters and hit another with a pitch.

The Tigers are now off until next weekend (March 3-4) when they will play four games in Joplin, Mo. at the Mathis-Zenner Memorial Tournament.

– FHSU Sports Information –

Fort Hays State junior utility player Maddie Holub has been named MIAA Softball Hitter of the Week for action from the beginning of the season through Feb. 20, as selected by a conference SID panel. This is the first weekly MIAA award in her career.

Holub has had a strong start to the 2012 season, helping lead the Tigers to a 4-1 record. She has seven hits through the first five games, including three home runs and seven RBI. Against Abilene Christian on Sunday at the Midwestern State Invite, Holub hit two home runs and batted in three runs while also adding a single. It was the second multi-home run game of her career and it also ties a school record. The Hays native leads or is tied for the team lead in batting average (.467), hits (7), RBI (7), home runs (3) and slugging percentage (1.067). She is also 2-for-2 on stolen base attempts.

– FHSU Sports Information –

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 –