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Tristan Gegg, sophomore guard, drives the ball to the basket. The Gorillas finished the regular season at 17-10 overall and 13-6 in MIAA play after a 72-60 against the Jennies on Saturday, Feb. 29. Hannah Meier

Women’s basketball defeated by Fort Hays in MIAA Championship

The women’s basketball team lost the quarterfinals of the 2020 MIAA Postseason Tournament to Fort Hays State University on Friday, March 6 in Kansas City (53-69).  

Head coach Amanda Davied was proud of the team for giving it their all.  

“I thought we did well,” Davied said. “We did struggle to score but Hays is a very good team. They’ve got a great tradition and defensively they’re tough… But I also felt like we played hard and really our zone was pretty good. (We) had Kaylee DaMitz and Maya Williams lead us on the offensive charge. Overall, just a tough game for us but (I am) really proud of our players for the season they had.”  

A couple of players stood out to Davied during the game.   

“I thought Sydnee Crain played a great game,” Davied said. “She really played real well, played great on defense, and got a couple of really nice scores, found a way to get to the rim, made a three and so (I) really thought she did a good job in that game of making some big shots… I just thought Kaylee DaMitz showed a lot of toughness and again (was) perfect at the free throw line and shot 50 percent from the floor… (which) is impressive. (She had) 20 points. She really took on a good scoring load for us. Maya Williams almost (had) a double-double. She’s kind of back to herself the last couple games of the year… So, (I am) really proud of her. She was 5 for 11 from the field. I thought that she really stepped up and did a good job on the offensive side as well.”  

According to Davied, the team strove to improve throughout the season.  

“I think we’ve grown as much as we could with some… (limitations) as far as injuries,” Davied said. “I think this team never stopped being eager to learn and eager to come to practice… We always talk about playing our best at the end of the season, we won five out of our last six… (We are) just overall really proud of them and their ability to stick together as a team and just come back and be resilient every day.”  

Looking back at this season, the games against KU, Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western stand out in Davied’s memory.  

“I think there’s a few things that this team can hang their hat on,” Davied said. “… I think start off the year where they beat KU early in the year and I think that’s a big win for our program and they should definitely be proud of that. That was when we were healthy (and) we were fresh out of the gates. I think that says a lot about our team and the potential that they have. I also thought towards the end of the year we had some great games with Northwest Missouri where it took everybody to win that game (and) every single person on our roster stepped up. So, (I am) really proud of them for that effort. We swept Western which was a tough team in our league. So, I feel like we had a great beginning to our season (and) a great finish to our season. It was just somewhere in the middle we had lots of injuries (and) some things that were really tough.”  

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