Tabor tripped up at Sterling

Written by Andrew Ottoson Saturday, 19 January 2008 18:07

A three-overtime thriller ended with the Sterling College women 89-84 over the the Tabor women, but only after three Bluejays fouled out. Starting considerably later than expected,the Sterling men beat Tabor 82-62 Saturday night.

Zach Vanselow led all scorers with 15 points and Mike Rousell scored 11 in the first half, including a 2-pointer that gave the Bluejays a 10-4 lead out of the gate.

Orson Thomas put back an Aaron Whitelaw miss, giving Tabor a 19-14 lead at the 11:08 mark, but Sterling broke off a 10-0 run to claim the lead for good.

Tabor knotted the game at 25-25, 27-27 and 29-29, but entered halftime trailing 37-30 with Sterling having scored six consecutive points--four at the foul line--in the 1:22 before intermission.

Thomas cut it to 47-41 4:13 into the second half, and Whitelaw buried a 3-pointer that made it 59-53 at the midpoint. Whitelaw hit another triple with 7:49 to go, cutting the Sterling lead to 9 points, but the Warriors ran away with it, outscoring Tabor 17-6 during the final 7-plus minutes of play.

 Tabor is now 3-5 on the year, and Sterling is 5-2.

 The Bluejay women played a much more focused game, jumping out to a 21-11 lead in the first 10:49. Sterling roared back with a 9-2 run. Tabor Pushed the lead back to seven when Jordan Crosson and Joanna Pyle threw in back-to-back scores, and Stacie Herman made it eight with consecutive 3-pointers at the end of the half.

But just nine seconds after Herman connected from beyond the perimeter, Hillary Stucky hit a three to make the halftime score 37-32.

Tabor led the entire second half, but Ashley Kraft sent the game into extra sessions with a field goal for a 63-63 score with six seconds to go.

Tabor returned the favor in both of the first two overtimes, with Kirsten Watson twice draining game-tying 3-pointers. 

The first came with 38 seconds left in the initial overtime, but neither team could break the 73-73 deadlock. The second came with 20 seconds to go in the middle overtime. Tabor called a time out the instant Watson's shot went through and set up a full court press with a lineup composed of five guards. The play worked to perfection, forcing a bad pass with 11.4 seconds left.

The Bluejays then inbounded to Tasia Johnson and cleared the lane to isolate her against a single defender, who Johnson torched with a shake-and-bake stutter-step. But as had been the pattern established against Tabor's slashing drives, the Warrior help defense closed fast and hard, knocking both the shot and the shooter to the floor while managing to avoid a whistle in the process.

 Sterling outscored Tabor 10-5 in the decisive third overtime thanks in large part to four points on early baskets by Britany Gasper, who finished with 20 points. Kraft led all scorers with 28, nine of which came after the end of regulation.

Herman led Tabor with 22 points, including a five-for-six showing beyond the arc. Watson scored 16, and Brittany Roth had 13.

The loss puts the women two games (5-3) behind Sterling (6-1) in the conference standings. Both teams trail 7-1 Southwestern.