HAYS, Kan. – A cold shooting first half led the RiverHawks to a 77-44 road loss on Thursday night at Fort Hays State.

Rylie Torrey had her seventh 20-point contest with a game high 21 to continue her streak of 22 straight in double-figures.  Destiny Strange was NSU's second leading scorer with 12 points which was her most since Dec. 13, 2016 at home against Bacone.  Strange knocked down a career high three treys in the loss, in 53 previous games she had 11 total for the RiverHawks.

Thursday's 33-point loss was the widest for the RiverHawks this season and they were out-rebounded by 30 to the Tigers with 26; Miranda Griffin led NSU with six off the bench.

Northeastern State shot 28-percent (14-50) with half of their shots coming from long range; Fort Hays State was 37.7-percent (26-69) from the field and saw their numbers trail off in the second half where they went 11-for-36.

The RiverHawks didn't have many answers early in the contest as Fort Hays opened on a 22-2 run.  Mary Jane Buschmann gave NSU their second field goal of the period with 1:34 left on the clock and before the buzzer she added an old fashioned three-point play with the RiverHawks trailing 25-8. 

Torrey and Destiny Strange accounted for the first four points in the second quarter but NSU went cold and Fort Hays went on a 19-2 run.  The RiverHawks trailed 46-16 at the half with Buschmann having six and Torrey scoring five points. 

In the second half, FHSU's scoring leveled off but the RiverHawks couldn't put together consistent runs to break into the Tiger lead, and trailed by at-least 27-points the rest of the way.

Fort Hays had three in double figures with Jill Faxton scoring a team high 15 points for the Tigers.

Thursday's loss sends Northeastern State to 6-16 overall and 2-12 in MIAA play, Fort Hays State will go to 17-6 and 8-6 in the MIAA; both teams will meet again next Thursday at the NSU Event Center.

Northeastern State has Friday off before traveling on Saturday to Nebraska-Kearney to face the Lopers at 1:30 p.m.