After Saturday's 78-48 blowout of visiting McPherson, the only thing missing was a big red bow to top it off.

Ninth-ranked Tabor, 9-3 overall, used a deep and quality bench -which outscored the Bulldog bench, 31-5-and unselfish play to leave no doubt who was the front-runner in this year's race.

"This is right where I hoped we'd be, particularly in the conference," Allen said. "I felt like if we played well, we could be undefeated in the conference going into the break and that would be huge.

"Not that it gets any easier, but that (4-0 KCAC mark) comes with wins at Sterling and at Southwestern."

Give McPherson credit, though, the Bulldogs hung tough for the first seven minutes.

When Jamie Harvey converted a pair of free throws with 12:43 to play in the half, McPherson drew even with the Bluejays.

But the rest of the half was anything but a festive atmosphere for the Bulldogs and their fans.

Tabor reeled off a 30-8 lump of coal in the Bulldogs' stocking on the way to a 44-22 halftime lead.

Things couldn't have gone much better in the half for Tabor, Allen said.

"We passed the ball well, I thought we made really good decisions in terms of knowing when to shoot and not shoot, and I thought our bench really played well," Allen said. "A lot of things went well for us in the first half."

Tabor connected on 56.3 percent (18-32) of its field-goal attempts while limiting McPherson to 36 percent (9-25).

Tabor's intensity carried over into the second half, resulting in a 19-9 barrage to open a 34-point lead with 13:02 to play.

From that point, the only question remaining was the final score. When the final horn sounded, the Bluejays owned a 30-point victory as thoughts turned to final exams and Christmas vacation.

Tabor was led by Erica Dechant and Emily Vogts with 13 points each. Erica Hemmert added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Donya Anderson chipped in 10 points.

"Dechant had a nice game," Allen said of the Salina senior who hit three of five shots from 3-point range. "We knew it was just a matter of time until she started making her shots again."

April Woody led McPherson with 12 points.

The Bluejays cooled off in the second half but still hit 49.2 percent (31-63) from the field, including seven of 17 (41.2 percent) from behind the 3-point arc.

Tabor totaled 21 assists on offense and 12 steals on defense. Jill Hein accounted for three of those steals but made a much larger contributions than the statistics indicated, Allen said.

"I thought Jill just played a great game," he said. "She cut off her man every time she tried to drive, she kept her from catching the ball and she guarded well on the help side.

"She didn't come up with a lot of offensive rebounds but she kept a ton of balls alive," he added. "She was relentless on the offensive boards."

One negative aspect of Tabor's win was an ankle injury to starting point guard Stacie Herman. Allen said the holiday break couldn't come at a better time.

"If it was going to happen, this was the time," he said. "Ankles have a tendency to heal quicker than knees, so we think she'll be able to bounce back."

With the victory, Tabor remains in a first-place tie with Ottawa heading into the holiday break.

Southwestern- Perhaps Jinx, the famous unlucky cat who supposedly prowls the halls of Stewart Fieldhouse, was curled in a ball while the temperature hovered near zero Thursday night in Winfield.

But the curse was never a factor as ninth-ranked Tabor College cruised to a 62-53 win over the Moundbuilders.

On a night when the weather was fit for neither man nor beast, the Bluejays ruffled their feathers on the way to a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference victory in a game not nearly as close as the final score indicated.

For Tabor, the victory was predicated on defense.

"We were really tough defensively for about half or maybe a little more of the game," coach Rusty Allen said. "We feel that's a part of our game that can be the most consistent by doing the things that keep other people from scoring."

In fact barely a minute into the contest, Jill Hein stepped into the Moundbuilder passing lane and took the ball coast to coast for a 2-0 Tabor lead. The Bluejays never surrendered it.

Nursing a narrow three-point lead moments later, Tabor's Erica Dechant drained a pair of 3-point hoops to increase the advantage.

"Dechant came in and that's her specialty," Allen said. "She's been on the last few games."

Although Southwestern stayed within striking distance, trailing 17-13 with 9:11 to play, a 15-4 Tabor scoring spurt the remainder of the first half put the Bluejays in the locker room with a 32-19 advantage.

Included in the surge were 3-point baskets by Hein and Stacie Herman.

Allen said Southwestern's defense almost dared Tabor to exploit it from the outside.

"We had open looks against their zone and we made some of those shots," Allen said. "They made a major emphasis to slow Donya (Anderson) and Emily (Vogts, last week's KCAC Player-of-the-Week) on the inside."

In the half, Tabor connected on 46.4 percent (13-28) of its field-goal attempts while Southwestern made 24 percent (6-25).

The Bluejays kept the heat on to begin the second half, opening with a 9-1 spurt to push the advantage to 41-20 at the 16:00 mark.

Tabor still led by 20 points, 48-28, with 9:12 to play and seemed to be cruising to an easy win. But the Moundbuilders hit Tabor with a 13-0 blitz over the next four minutes to whittle the lead to 48-41.

Keying the run were a pair of 3-point baskets by Ileana Perez.

"Plus, I feel like we forced some shots in that stretch and didn't hit them ourselves," Allen said.

Also adding fuel to the Builders' fire was a tenacious press that caused numerous Bluejay mistakes.

For the game, Tabor committed and uncharacteristic 26 turnovers, not all of them forced.

"Their defense was probably the softest we've seen all year," he said. "They didn't put any pressure on our guards, but we just didn't make good decisions.

"Later in the game, they pressed us and created a few turnovers, which I credit them for. However, at least half of our turnovers were all on us."

With the lead trimmed to seven, Hein, Anderson and Vogts got baskets in the paint to reconstruct a 12-point lead. Free-throw shooting down the stretch preserved victory.

Herman led the Bluejays with 18 points while Anderson and Hein each added 13. Tabor hit 44.2 percent (23-52) from the field.

The Bluejays made seven of 16 (43.8 percent) shots from behind the 3-point arc, including four of give by Herman.

Anderson, who entered the game as the leading rebounder in the KCAC at 10 per game, didn't disappoint. She hauled in a game-high 14 to help give Tabor a 37-34 team edge.

Perez led the Builders with 21 points. Southwestern shot 30.4 percent (17-56) from the field.

With the win, Tabor improved to 3-0 in conference play and 8-3 overall while Southwestern fell to 1-2 and 5-7.

"This is the first time in my five years at Tabor that we've controlled the game in Winfield and it didn't come down to a final shot to decide the winner," Allen said.

"We went on the road to a tough place and played against a well coached team and got a conference win," he added. "There's still a lot of improvement we can make, though, and we need to put together a full game and not lose our concentration at the end or when we get a nice lead."

Coming- Tabor returns to action Dec. 30 when the Bluejays travel to Chickasha, Okla., to face the University of Science and Arts.