By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
HAYS, KS - The Missouri Western women's basketball team pushed #6 Fort Hays State to the limit Wednesday night before falling 78-69 in overtime.
The game saw a blow-for-blow heavyweight fight for 40 minutes, but the Tigers (24-3, 18-3 MIAA) outscored Western 14-5 in the extra period to survive for their fifth straight win overall.
Connie Clarke led the Griffons with 19 points and 14 rebounds, while Brionna Budgetts scored 17. Jaden Hobbs and Olivia Hollenbeck scored 22 and 21 respectively for Hays in a win that keeps the Tigers atop the MIAA standings with Missouri Southern.
Missouri Western coach Candi Whitaker said her team was a bit fatigued by the time overtime came around.
"Thought we did a lot of great things and played really, really hard," Whitaker said. "That's the effort and determination that we need. I thought in the overtime we looked fatigued.
"We have a young team and that's where I think you can see that at times. Our execution was poor and our defense wasn't good in overtime. But, leading up to that, super proud of everything that we saw."
Missouri Western led by as many as nine points in the second half. The Griffons fall to 20-7 overall and 14-7 in the MIAA.
Griffon men defend well, slow game down but come short against Hays
Missouri Western held No. 18 Fort Hays State to its second-lowest point total of the season. However, the Griffons (13-16, 9-12 MIAA) were held to a season-low scoring output in a 56-42 road loss Wednesday.
The Griffons shot 39% from the field, while holding Hays to just 35% shooting. The Tigers made nine three-pointers, while the Griffons made only two.
Western trailed 21-17 at halftime and Hays used a 13-5 run to open the second half to stretch the lead to double digits and never looked back. Missouri Western coach Will Martin liked the effort defensively, but said the offense lacked at key moments late.
"That's right where we wanted the game," Martin said. "We felt like the first team to 60 was going to win this game, and it happened to be 50. I thought our guys played hard. I thought the effort was there. I thought the enthusiasm was there. We just have to execute more down the stretch and throughout the course of the game."
Will Eames led Western with 13 points. Freshman Taye Fields added eight points and nine rebounds. Jared Vitztum led Hays with 21 points, 16 rebounds and he was 5-of-6 from three.
Both Missouri Western teams conclude the regular season at Nebraska-Kearney Friday. Tip-off is set for 5:30 and 7:30. Both games are on KFEQ Radio (680, 95.3).
With losses by both the Nebraska-Kearney and Pittsburg State men Wednesday, the Missouri Western men are guaranteed a spot in next week's MIAA tournament as the Griffons sit ninth in the standings - a full two games above the cutoff line.
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