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TOPEKA, Kan. -- The two Washburn Lady Blues seniors put up career nights as Corkey Stiger and Amanda Holmes combined to score 49 of Washburn's 64 points in a 64-60 senior night victory in Lee Arena over Fort Hays State. With the win, Washburn (22-4, 14-3 MIAA) clinches at least a share of their fifth MIAA regular season championship in the last six years and the No. 1 seed in the MIAA Postseason Tournament March 6-9 in Kansas City. Washburn will wrap up the regular season on Saturday in Warrensburg, Mo., when they take on Central Missouri at 1:30 p.m.
Stiger paced the Washburn attack with a career-high 27 points on 10 of 21 shooting and Holmes tied her career best with 22 points on 8 of 15 from the field with a game-high nine rebounds in the win.
The Lady Blues took a 10-point lead into the break at 34-24 after leading the entire first half. Washburn forced 10 Lady Tiger turnovers leading to 12 points for the Lady Blues as Holmes scored 14 first half points. Naomi Bancroft had 11 after hitting three first half 3-pointers.
In the second half, Washburn had their lead cut to one just three minutes in as the Lady Tigers (11-15, 5-12 MIAA) opened the period on a 9-0 run capped by a jumper by Erica Biel. Washburn pushed the lead back to five at 38-33, but a 9-1 run by Fort Hays State put the Lady Tigers up 40-39 with 9:30 to play.
Fort Hays State and Washburn would trade buckets on their next three possessions and the Lady Tigers stretched the lead to three at 46-43 with 7:42 remaining.
After a pair of Holmes free throws trimming the FHSU lead to one at 46-45, Washburn's Janice Bright hit a pair of charity tosses to give the Lady Blues a 47-46 lead with 6:49 to play. A jumper by Holmes pushed the led to three at 49-46 with 6:01 to play, but FHSU tied it at 49 with a 3-pointer by Meshia Mason.
Another jumper by Holmes with 5:23 to play gave Washburn the lead for good at 51-49. Trailing by two at 62-60 with 43 seconds left, the Lady Tigers were whistled for three seconds after a missed shot and Jessica Mainz hit a pair of free throws after being fouled to lock up the win.
Stiger and Holmes were the only Lady Blues to reach double figures as Bright scored seven and Mainz scored five along with three points from Hope Gregory. The Washburn bench was held scoress on 0 of 4 shooting from the field with any free throw attempts. Brianna Whilhite led the Lady Tigers with 15 points after hitting 7 of 10 shots from the field. She led four FHSU players in double figures being joined by Mason with 14, Bancroft with 11 and Sheen Kuntzsch with 10.
Washburn finished the game 21 of 56 from the field (.375) compared to the Lady Tigers hitting 25 of 57 (.439).
Washburn was outrebounded for only the fifth time this season as the Lady Tigers held a 37 to 30 advantage on the backboards.

Notes: Washburn now leads the all-time series with FHSU 35-25 and has won the last 10 meetings …
Jessica Mainz tied a career high with eight assists … Amanda Holmes tied a career high with six blocks … Mainz also set a career high with 40 minutes played after recorded three games with 39 minutes played … Washburn was 15 of 22 from the free throw line and FHSU was 1 of 1 … Washburn forced 20 FHSU turnovers leading to 21 points for the Lady Blues.