By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Last year, Erica Biel transferred from Div. I Missouri State University and started half the season for the Fort Hays State University women's basketball team. Biel averaged 5.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game on a senior-laden Tiger team.

This year, Biel has emerged as one of the top players in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association through the non-conference schedule. Biel, moved to the post because of Fort Hays' lack of height, is the Tigers' only inside player on a team that starts four guards.

Biel, though, has averaged 14.5 points and 11.7 rebounds per game and helped Fort Hays start 3-3. She ranks second in the MIAA in rebounds per game, slightly behind Emporia State University's Ida Edwards (12.0) and sixth in points per game. Biel already has four double-doubles, including 13 points and 11 rebounds in a 104-56 win against Ottawa University on Saturday.

"She is going to play heavy minutes, so that is one factor," first-year head coach Tony Hobson said. "She is going to be in there a lot. I think she is capable of being a 14-9, 14-10 person and for us to have a chance in conference, she has be that for us."

Biel, who averages a team-high 34.8 minutes, already has matched Sheena Kuntzsch's team-high four double-doubles from the 2007-08 season. Her 17 rebounds in the season opener against Tabor College ranks second for a single game in the MIAA, two behind Edwards.

"She is playing with a lot of confidence," Ottawa head coach Bruce Tate said. "If you have a kid that is averaging a double-double, you can't control the kind of confidence that she is having. I think she is going to get better. I think that once she can do some things away from the basket, (Hobson) is going to have a pretty good post player there."

Biel could earn her fifth double-double of the season Tuesday against Oklahoma-Panhandle State University. Game time is 7 p.m. at Gross Memorial Coliseum. Fort Hays has not had back-to-back wins this season. A loss Tuesday would mark the first season since 1999-00 that Fort Hays did not produce back-to-back wins in the year's first seven contests.

Last season, Fort Hays lost 66-60 to Panhandle State in overtime on the road and 66-58 at home. Fort Hays had won the last eight games in the series before Panhandle State took the past two. Panhandle State enters the contest 1-6, last in the Heartland Conference, and on a four-game losing streak. Fort Hays, with a young roster, has struggled in the early season with two losses to NAIA teams. However, Biel's play has helped the squad. When she has a double-double, Fort Hays is 3-1, with its only loss a one-point defeat to then-No. 25 University of Nebraska-Kearney.

Hobson, though, believes Biel can improve even more. Biel has always played away from the basket until this season. Biel's strength and size (6-foot-1) has helped her inside, but she is still progressing.

"She is still an infant when it comes to post play offensively," Hobson said. "She is getting way better, but she is going to improve a lot because we work on it on a daily basis. She is just not ready. If you grow up without playing with your back to the basket, it's very difficult to all of a sudden start doing that. She is willing to do it for us because we need her to. I keep forgetting that I have to be a little patient with her, but as smart as she is and she is big enough to score in there, she just has to understand a couple things."

Fast-paced?

Hobson has always liked a fast-paced style. At Hastings (Neb.) College, it produced three NAIA national championships and a 211-40 record. Fort Hays delivered 34 points off 29 Ottawa turnovers on Saturday with many of the points coming in transition.

The turnovers were the most that any Tiger opponent has committed in the last two years, while the 34 points was the most Fort Hays has produced off turnovers this season. Overall, Fort Hays has averaged 28 points per game off turnovers.

Hobson said the Tigers still need to improve to push the pace on a more consistent basis.

"I would like to extend it more defensively someday," Hobson said. "We are just not in the position now to do that against anybody because of No. 1, our depth, and No. 2, our quickness. I am not sure that we are team-wise quick enough to try to press up the floor very much more than we are. I don't mind a fast break game if your kids make good decisions. We are getting better and we are finding the open man and making skip passes for open shots so it was an improvement."

Randa back in Hays

Tate made a promise when Stef Randa came to Ottawa University. Tate would schedule a road game against Fort Hays State University in Randa's hometown. On Saturday, Randa, a Hays High School graduate, returned home in her senior year, the first time in her career she played a collegiate game in Hays.

"I wanted to do it her senior year," Tate said.

Randa, one of the Braves' starting guards, played 22 minutes and had seven points and two rebounds in a 104-56 loss to the Tigers. Overall, Randa averages seven points for the 1-6 Braves.

"She is probably one of our top 3-point threats," Tate said. "She is one of our team captains, great leadership. She is really feisty on the defensive end and really not afraid to step in there and take some charges. Right now, she is kind of holding us together out there. If she is down and frustrated, you will see the whole group kind of down."

On the road

While the Fort Hays women are home Tuesday, the Fort Hays men will be in Wichita for a 6 p.m. game against Newman University.

Newman (3-3) lost 74-59 at Colorado School of Mines on Saturday in the championship game of the Mines Thanksgiving Classic. The Jets are led in scoring by 6-10 senior center Ryan Bradley at 14.5 points per game.

Fort Hays (5-0) is coming off a 76-46 home win over Ottawa University on Saturday.

The Tigers have three players scoring in double figures, led by sophomore guard Corbin Kuntzsch's 12.8 points per game. Senior guard Tyrone Evans is averaging 12.2 points and junior forward Tim Peintner is scoring 11.6 points per game and averages a team-high 9.8 rebounds.

All-century

Former Fort Hays All-American Alonzo Goldston has been selected to the all-century team by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Goldston, the starting center on the Tigers' undefeated 1995-96 NCAA Division II national championship team, was one of 12 players honored by the RMAC, entering its 100th year.

Goldston, a native of Washington, D.C., played at Fort Hays from 1994-1997. The 1995-96 team still holds the NCAA all-division record in men's basketball for wins in a perfect season at 34-0 and is only one of three teams in NCAA II history to finish undefeated and win the national title.

The 6-91/2 Goldston finished his career as the all-time scoring leader in Fort Hays men's history with 1,766 points. Goldston averaged 18.4 points per game in his career. A two-time NCAA II All-American, Goldston also was the RMAC Player of the Year as a senior.