By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Last year, the Fort Hays State University women's basketball team often played just six or seven Tigers. No conference team received more minutes and points from its starting five.

FHSU, picked last to finish in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, was 12-16 overall, 8-12 in the conference. The Tigers qualified for the postseason conference tournament for the first time since they switched to the MIAA three seasons ago. Yet the small roster yielded a season-long struggle; head coach Tony Hobson called it "survival mode."

"We just got to survive," Hobson, in his second year, said. "We have got nine players on the team. We have had all these things going on. We need to survive. That is not the attitude this year. We survived last year. We should be better. Now let's go accomplish something."

Fort Hays has a much deeper roster now, helped by six freshmen and three transfers. The depth has yielded heightened expectations. Fort Hays was picked fifth in the conference preseason poll by the coaches; sixth by the media.

"With what we brought in, we are going to have a much better bench," senior guard Naomi Bancroft said

"Our new players are really going to help," senior forward Erica Biel added. "When we need breathers, we don't have to worry about not having anyone to come off the bench for us."

Fort Hays will open up its regular season with a 2 p.m. start today against Bethany College at Gross Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers are 38-44 in the last three seasons and have not a winning conference record in the MIAA, a skid that could change this year.

"I want to see us be successful in the conference," Bancroft said. "And be a threat and not just be a pushover team like we have been the last few years. I am just ready to be a solid team that everybody is scared to play. Being picked top-five, that's nice. You always want to be higher, but it's also that position where no one can take you lightly but you can still sneak up on some people. Our goals are higher than that, which I think are very achievable, but it is also going to take a lot of hard work."

The Tigers return four seniors in Bancroft, Biel, Audra Binford and Kayla Klug. All will start Sunday, along with freshman Cara McFarland, a 6-0 forward from Ottawa.

"You know what you are going to get out of her everyday," Hobson said. "We are going to start her at the 4 spot. She is very versatile. She can score the ball, she can shoot the 3. She handles it well, good passer. Kind of has got a nice all around game. She is not going to get you 30, but she is going to have a lot of games where she has 12-14 points, eight rebounds, four assists, just kind of a nice all-around player."

Bancroft, the school record holder for 3-pointers made and attempted in a career, will change positions this season after she averaged 15.4 points, second-best on the team, and led the conference with 110 3s. Bancroft, will move from shooting guard to point guard after Jacie Hoyt, a Hoxie native, Wichita State University transfer and projected starting point guard, tore her anterior cruciate ligament in preseason.

"I think she can give us some good minutes at point and then maybe we can bring someone else a long a little bit more as the season progresses, maybe play her a little bit more on the wing and less at point," Hobson said. "Early in the season, she is going to be playing a lot of point."

Bancroft has never played point guard in her college career.

"I am going to try to fill the big hole," she said. "She is a great player and it's a sad thing that we lost her, but that's also the adversity of basketball and when you do lose a key player like that, part of bringing a team together and is stepping up at filling it to the best of your ability."

Last season, point guard Talia Miller went down with a knee injury in early December and missed the rest of the season. Miller, a sophomore, and Kimber Weiser, an Oakley native and Barton County Community College transfer, are in the mix at backup point guard. Klug, who moved to point after Miller's injury, will stay at shooting guard. She averaged 9.4 points per game last winter.

"I really think Kayla is a much better wing player than she is on the point," Hobson said. "Now, I think Naomi is too a better wing player, but I think she does better in a couple of things that we need done and then I noticed that's it's helped Kayla's game a little bit, too."

Biel had a big improvement last season. Moved to post out of necessity, Biel earned first team all-conference, was named to the all-MIAA defensive team and averaged a team high 15.9 points per game. Biel, who led the conference in minutes played, set school records for single season blocked shots (64) and rebounding average (11.0). Biel had bronchitis through much of the preseason, but has recovered. This season, she will have help in the post with McFarland, 6-2 Kara Champlin, a transfer from Cloud County Community College and freshman Haley Lindsey, a 6-2 freshman from Bucklin.

"It's going to be great," Biel said. "I am really glad that we are going to have someone there on the bench when I need a break or if I get in foul trouble. It is going to be nice to have Kara or Kara McFarland come in and really help me out. That would be nice."

Binford, who collected 10.1 points a game last season, will start Sunday. Several other newcomers should see playing time early, including freshman Whitney Taylor from Ellis, freshman Kelsie Sorenson, a McPherson native, and freshman Traci Keyser from Cambridge, Neb.

"Play at 11 early on, possibly even 12, but we have just got more opportunity to look at kids and we just have a lot more depth than what we have had in the past years," Hobson said.