TC women overcome slow start, beat Coyotes 63-52

Written by Andrew Ottoson Friday, 05 January 2007 18:00

Against Kansas Wesleyan on Saturday, the Bluejays hit only 17 percent of their field goals in the first half, but erupted for 47 points in the second half of their 14th straight win. Basketball is a game of inches-and even in the middle of a tough night, it is only a matter of time until good shooters find their range.

In Saturday night's 63-52 win over Kansas Wesleyan, it took the Tabor College women 11:03 to score their first points, but found their scoring touch in time to avoid a double-digit deficit at halftime.

The slow start surprised at least one spectator, an official who remarked that "someone must have forgotten to take the lid off of the basket" after a soft attempt at a layup bounced twice on the rim at the south end of the Tabor gym before falling away.

Despite the sight of their team trailing 10-0 at the 9:22 mark, the fans in Tabor's crowd must have expected that once someone broke the invisible seal on the cylinder, shots would start falling regularly.

The crowd roared loudly at the 8:57 mark, when Emily Vogts lofted a free throw through the net to mark the moment the Bluejays began cutting into the Coyote lead.

And from that point on, the home team's shots did fall: a 5-0 spurt cut the lead in half.

When Vogts put in a layup at 1:17, Tabor trailed 18-14.

On the next possession, K-W scored a final-minute 3-pointer, but Erin Runge sank a pair of free throws with 0:19 to keep the game within an arm's length at 21-16.

The second half opened with Andrea Robinson draining a 3-pointer off an assist from Donya Anderson.

Robinson took a pass from Vogts 1:49 later and connected from beyond the arc--and the shot tied the game at 24-24.

Then, 2:09 later, Anderson found Robinson open again, and the freshman guard gave Tabor its first lead of the night, 29-26, at 15:48 of the second half.

A defensive stop led to another open look for Robinson, and she scored again to double the lead to six points; the home team went on to push the lead to as much as 15 points, and K-W never closed within seven after that.

Robinson finished with 20 points-all in the second half-followed by Anderson, who scored 12.

Vogts led the team in rebounding, with 14.

With the win, Tabor improved to 14-1 overall; the Bluejays now hold a 6-0 record in KCAC games and a one-game edge over Sterling and Ottawa for the top spot in the conference.

Coming-the women play at home at 7 p.m. against Newman University on Tuesday, followed by a trip to Friends for a 6 p.m. start on Thursday.