SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Fort Hays State saw its season come to a close in the NCAA Central Regional Semifinals on Saturday night (Mar. 10) when it fell to Central Missouri, 66-59. The sixth-seeded Tigers end their season at 26-7 overall, while the second-seeded Jennies improved to 26-3 overall and advanced to the regional final Monday night.
 
Central Missouri, ranked No. 10 in the nation, led for over 30 minutes in the game, while FHSU held the lead for a total of 6:19. Fort Hays State's largest lead was three points occurring twice, late in the second quarter and after its first bucket in the third quarter. Following the last three-point lead for the Tigers, the Jennies went on an 11-4 run to take a four-point lead and then led by that margin by the end of the third quarter, 49-45.
 
The Tigers kept the Jennies within five points all throughout the game until the 7:46 mark of the fourth quarter when a Kelsey Williams jumper in the lane made the margin six points. A Belle Barbieri layup closed the margin back to four, but a Morgan Fleming three pointer and a Megan Skaggs layup took the UCM lead out to nine points. The biggest dagger came at the 1:14 mark. After the Tigers missed a layup in close that would have cut the margin to five, Fleming hit a desperation turnaround three-point attempt in the left corner with the shot clock expiring to extend the lead to 10.
 
Kacey Kennett hit a three-pointer with just under a minute remaining, but the Tigers had to foul four times inside the final minute before finally putting the Jennies on the line with 20 seconds remaining. Kayonna Lee, who finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds, buried a pair of free throws to push the lead back to nine. Kennett connected one more time from deep, but it was not enough in the end as the MIAA's regular season champion moved on to the regional final.
 
Kennett had her second straight solid game shooting the ball from the outside, going 5-of-9 beyond the three-point arc. She finished with a team-best 17 points. Lanie Page had nine points and Tatyana Legette had eight. Fort Hays State's only senior, Emma Stroyan, also finished with eight. Barbieri had a team-high seven rebounds, while Legette shelled out a team-best six assists.
 
MIAA Player of the Year Paige Redmond led the Jennies with 16 points and five assists. Fleming, who hit her only two three-point field goal attempts of the game in the fourth quarter, had nine points.
 
After sitting at 3-4 to open MIAA play by mid-January, the Tigers went on a roll winning 11 of their last 12 in conference play. As the No. 3 seed, the Tigers advanced to the finals of the MIAA Tournament to secure an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers won 14 of their final 17 games to close out the season, including an opening round win in the NCAA Tournament before bowing out on Saturday night. The Tigers produced their seventh consecutive 20-win season and second-highest win total (26) under head coach Tony Hobson. The Tigers have now won at least 25 in a season three times under Hobson, and the majority of the squad will return next year.