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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Washburn Lady Blues held Fort Hays State to 3 of 31 shooting from the field in the second half turning a two-point halftime lead into a 73-46 win in the first round of the MIAA Championship Tournament. The No. 11 Lady Blues advance to take on the winner of the Pittsburg State/Nebraska-Omaha game at 8:15 p.m. on Saturday night in Municipal Auditorium.

The Lady Blues opened the second half with a 31-29 lead before putting together a 30-6 run over the first 10 minutes of the half as the Tigers were 1 of 17 to begin the half and did not hit their second field goal of the half until there was 1:45 in the game. The three field goals came at the 12:09, 1:45 and the 1:25 marks of the second half.

In the first half, the teams traded leads 13 times in the first half with neither team leading by more than six points.

Washburn was led by Janice Bright who scored 15 of her game-high 20 points in the first half. She was 4 of 7 from the field - all from behind the 3-point arc. Stanecia Graham score 12 points off the bench and Karla Tailele netted all 11 of her points in the first half hitting three 3-pointers. Jessica Mainz added seven points with nine assists, tying a career-high she set against FHSU on Feb. 7 in Hays. Mainz also became the third Lady Blue to have at least 600 points, 400 rebounds, 300 assists and 150 steals joining Brenda Shaffer-Dahl and Latisha Yarnell.

Naomi Bancroft led FHSU with 14 points. Kayla Klug and Audra Binford each had 12.

Washburn finished the game 23 of 52 hitting 44 percent of their shots while the Tigers were 14 of 58 (24 percent) while holding FHSU to 10 percent in the second half.