By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

The early-season nonconference schedule provides second-year Fort Hays State University women's basketball coach Tony Hobson an opportunity to winnow his rotation.

Hobson, who brought in nine new players, played every Tiger on the roster in a 104-56 season-opening win against Bethany College on Sunday. Nine players saw at least 10 minutes, while three others played at least eight.

"We just got a lot of competition in our team to see where is it going to fall and who is going to be in that nine- or 10-man rotation," Hobson said. "You can't really play 12 or 13 kids to have any kind of continuity when it comes down to tight games and things like that.

"These games, that's what I use them for, is to determine who is going to be there. Kids play a lot different in games than they do in practice, so you get a chance to put them in and kind of watch them in their game situations," he added.

Four seniors -- Kayla Klug, Naomi Bancroft, Audra Binford and Erica Biel -- are all returning starters and will each see significant playing time. Freshman Kara McFarland has been the top newcomer and played a team-high 27 minutes Sunday with 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. Kara Champlin and Shelby Hillman, junior college transfers, have each played well, especially with starting the fast break.

The Tigers will play their second game Wednesday against Northwestern Oklahoma State University. Tipoff is 5:30 p.m. at Gross Memorial Coliseum.

"(Champlin) gives us a good, solid backup that we can bang in there," Hobson said. "Really strong kid. I've been happy with her. Shelby Hillman, she is kind of one of our emotional leaders. She is in to it. She will talk on the court. She is really good for our mental health and she can play also."

We are playing her at the four some, we are playing her at the 3. She is versatile also. She is going to get a lot of playing time."

The final rotation spots are likely among five players: sophomores Talia Miller and Kimber Weiser and freshmen Whitney Taylor, Traci Keyser and Kelsie Sorenson. All played between eight and 15 minutes against Bethany.

Miller was the starting point guard last season before she suffered a knee injury in December and missed the rest of the year.

She and Weiser, an Oakley native who transferred last winter from Barton County Community College, could each play backup point guard.

Bancroft moved to starting point guard in the preseason after a season-ending knee injury to projected starter Jacie Hoyt, a junior transfer from Wichita State University, but Hobson would like someone else to play 10 to 12 minutes at point.

Hobson said he was "pleased" with Miller and Weiser on Sunday. They combined for three points and two assists.

"She (Weiser) might be the one," Hobson said. "Talia has been shooting the ball so well, we would like to have her on the wing a little bit more instead of having her play point. We will have her in there somewhere."

Taylor, an Ellis product, was productive with six points and two steals in nine minutes. Keyser and Sorenson contributed six points and four rebounds as the bench delivered a strong game.

"Taylor, she has been struggling in practice and in our exhibition games and scrimmages," Hobson said. "She had kind of tweaked her knee a little bit. The second half (Sunday), a game situation, looked good, looked very good.

"I just like that our kids don't sit over there worrying about whether they are on the floor. When they get their chance to go in, they go in and they bust it really hard and that was why you saw the margin go. Instead of a 22-point win, it was (48) because we had all of our kids get after it," he added.

Bancroft hits mark, on pace for another

Bancroft picked up a game-high 26 points, five rebounds, two assists and four steals against Bethany in her first game at point guard. Her final three points allowed her to hit the 1,000-point mark. She is just the 15th women's basketball player in school history to reach the plateau.

Bancroft has already set school records for career 3-point field goals (264) and 3-point field goal attempts (766). In 2008-09, she broke the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association single-season record for 3-point attempts with 327.

Her 110 3-pointers broke her own single-season school mark and were seven away from Pittsburg State University's Jenni Miller's single-season MIAA record of 116, set in 1994-95.

Bancroft, now 264-of-766 on 3-pointers in her career, is on pace to beat Miller's conference records for 3-pointers (364) and attempts (975).

"I just play the game," Bancroft said. "If it happens, it happens. That's great. I am more worried about how we turn out as a team and I want to see us be successful in the conference and be a threat."

Biel recovering

Last season, Biel earned first team all-MIAA honors and set school records for rebound average and blocked shots. Yet she battled back pain all year. She went to physical therapy during the offseason and summer and called the pain "a problem for basically the rest of my life." Biel said the pain is caused by degenerative discs in her lower back.

"I have been doing a lot of stretching and stuff in the training room to keep it to where it's not flaring up and being a problem," she said. "I don't have enough cushion between my vertebrae anymore, so anything pounding, running, anything physical, it's constant. But with the physical therapy and stuff, they have done a lot of core strengthening and kind of back muscle strengthening to where the rest of my body can try and take most of it."

Biel also had bronchitis during the preseason and missed most of preseason conditioning. She finished with 10 points and eight rebounds against Bethany.

"She is doing fine now," Hobson said.

Hoyt status

Hoyt, a Hoxie native, was expected to be the starting point guard, then got hurt before the first practice. Hobson said he thinks Hoyt plans to continue her playing career. He confirmed Hoyt has at least two more semesters left, possibly three. Hobson expects Hoyt to return "because she just loves to play."

"She is just one of the hardest workers I've been around," Hobson said. "That also tells me that she will come back. They actually made her stay on crutches an extra week because she would be doing too much."

Wolf on roster

Freshman Haley Wolf, an Ellis product, joined the Tigers as a walk-on. Wolf was the starting point guard for the Railroader basketball team that finished Class 2A runner-up last winter. In the spring, Wolf won the 1,600-meter track title as she and Taylor led the Railers to the team championship, the first girls' title in any sport in Ellis history.

Wolf was recruited by multiple schools for cross country and track, including Fort Hays.

However, basketball is Wolf's favorite sport. She talked with Hobson, joined the team and scored on a layup in the final minutes of Sunday's win.

"She told me, 'I just like to play basketball,' " Hobson said. "A good fit."