KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 7, 2020) - Central Missouri Jennies Basketball used a third-quarter surge to run away from five-seeded Fort Hays State and advance to tomorrow afternoon's MIAA Championship game. The Jennies scored 38 in the second half for a 59-48 win.

How it Happened
• The Jennies defense was the story in this one, holding the Tigers to just 31.6% shooting and 5-23 from three. The Jennies didn't have the greatest day shooting, but sunk 43% from the floor and 33% from three, much better than the 1-for-20 in Thursday's quarterfinals.
• UCM had a 39-33 advantage rebounding the ball and nine offensive rebounds. UCM scored 10 second-chance points.
• Turnovers were a big factor, especially early. The Jens lost the ball 20 times, but 15 came in the first half. The Tigers had 13 turnovers, three in the final 20 minutes.
• Each team committed 16 fouls. The Jennies were 7-10 at the free throw line and FHSU 7-13.
• UCM got off to a hot start with an 11-2 run to begin the game. A Gigi McAtee three gave UCM a 5-2 lead and they maintained the lead the rest of the way.
• Morgan Fleming and Ryann Stearns each buried three-pointers and at the first media timeout, the Jens led 11-2.
• Fort Hays scored seven straight to get back to within two, 11-9, but the Jens closed the first on a 5-0 run. Nija Collier hit a pair of layups and UCM led 16-9 after one.
• Then came the second quarter. The Jennies went just 2-12 and scored five points in the period. They didn't score for the final 5:27 of the half.
• Fortunately for UCM, the Tigers couldn't do much either. They scored just eight points going 3-11 from the field and at the half UCM led 21-17.
• The Jennies came out like a different team to start the second half. They scored the first eight points to take a 29-17 lead and force a Tigers timeout three minutes in.
• Layups from Fleming and Collier gave UCM their largest lead, 37-21, with 4:26 to play.
• The Tigers didn't quit and before the end of the third got the lead back to 11, 41-30. 
• UCM kept the lead at double-figures for much of the fourth quarter. Hays got a three to bring it down to single digits, 49-42, but Fleming was there to answer with a three of her own and pushed the lead back to 10 with 2:38 left.
• A free throw and a three-pointer from the Tigers made it a six-point game, 54-48 with just over a minute left. 
• With the shot clock winding down, Megan Skaggs hit a huge three-pointer bringing the Jennies back up nine, 57-48, with 31 seconds to play. The Tigers didn't score again and UCM moves on to tomorrow's MIAA Championship.

It Was Over When...
• Megan Skaggs put the finishing touches with a three with 30 seconds to go to seal the win. Skaggs from the wing with a hand in her face hit nothing but net as the shot clock was expiring.

Jennies Stat Leaders
• Morgan Fleming led the way with a game-high 20 points. She also had seven rebounds and five assists.
• Nija Collier scored 15 going 7-12 from the field with six rebounds. 
• Megan Skaggs added seven with seven rebounds and four steals.
• Gigi McAtee scored seven and passed out two assists.
• Morgan VanHyfte grabbed a team-high nine rebounds with five points and two blocks.

For the Tigers
• Jaden Hobbs scored 14 with four rebounds and four assists.
• Belle Barbieri grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and scored eight.
• Kacey Kennett and Madison Mittie each scored seven.

News and Notes
• The Jennies are playing in the MIAA Championship for the second straight season.
• UCM has seven MIAA Championships in their history with their last coming in 1990.
• The Jens held the Tigers to fewer than 10 points in both the first and second quarters. The Jennies are 12-1 this season when and opponent fails to reach 10 in a period and 54-5 since 2017.
• This is the 19th game the Jens have held an opponent below 60 points. 
• Morgan VanHyfte got to 200 career rebounds. 
• The Jennies lost to Fort Hays State last year in the MIAA Tournament finals. 
• Tomorrow will be the Jennies 16th MIAA Finals appearances.

Quotable
Coach Slifer Opening Statement
• First off that was about as great of a defensive game as I've seen in a long time. They're always tough to score against, but I thought our defense was fantastic throughout the day. It made for an ugly game. The second quarter was not pretty basketball. We understand that. We toughed it out and still had a four-point lead at halftime. We were able to score a little bit to start the third quarter. I've got to commend both Morgan Fleming and Nija Collier. Nija just battled on the boards all year long for us and has done a fantastic job. It doesn't matter whether we miss three's or not, because she's there to go get them. Morgan has been a four year leader and controlled the game today. She's not a point guard, but she was a point-forward today and played everything. I tip my cap to them and tell you she was outstanding today and was definitely the player of the game.

Morgan Fleming on what they did to get off to a good start
• This gym is really bright, so we blamed Thursday (1-20 from three) on the lights. We have a lot of people who haven't shot in this gym. We don't make excuses for our three-point percentage but we do rebound the ball really well and it saved us Thursday. We knew some were going to fall today and they did. We were confident today and tried to forget about Thursday. 

On halftime adjustments
Coach Slifer
• I'd love to tell you that our coaching staff did a fantastic job and dialed up some plays, but these guys just played. They're starting to get better and better as basketball players and we're starting to get more confident. All of the glory and praise goes to them because they made the plays. The court was spread out and Mo [Fleming] drove today better than I've ever seen her drive and make plays for herself and her teammates.
Morgan Fleming
• We talked in the locker room too about getting cuts. If we could get cuts it would open everything up more so I think that was our mindset coming out of the half.

Nija Collier on playing in the MIAA Tournament
• I knew in my first year coming here it was going to be a real battle because I'm going to be facing the toughest people in the conference. I thought that we were going to be pretty good this year and I'm happy we got the win today. 

Up Next
• The Jennies will take on the winner of Emporia State and Nebraska-Kearney in tomorrow's finals. Game time is 1 p.m.