After a strong showing in the first half, the second half did not go well for the home team.
On Thursday night, the Ottawa Braves women's basketball team came into Hillsboro and handed the Bluejays their second loss of the season, 69-50.
Stacie Herman scored the first 2-pointer of the game 1:29 after the tipoff and Tabor took its first and only lead of the game.
Amanda Stichler and Tina Wilson drilled 3-point shots 0:22 apart off of assists by Hallie Boyce.
Boyce capped Ottawa's 9-0 run with a technical foul free throw at 16:12. The technical resulted from an illegal substitution.
But the Bluejays closed the gap with three runs in the first half.
The first came as Emily Vogts threw in a 3-point play and Donya Anderson scored her first points of the night on a layup at 15:22.
The 5-0 burst made it 9-7 in Ottawa's favor, but the Braves bounced back with a free throw at 14:14 and a layup at 13:42.
After that, Tabor assembled a 8-3 run that tied the game 5:47 later.
Stacie Herman took a long lead pass and ran a 2-on-1 break with Kirsten Watson to her left.
Watson stationed herself at the 3-point line while Herman drove into the lane.
When the defender committed herself to stopping Herman's drive, the saavy guard deftly bounced a pass to Watson, who buried the wide open 3-pointer.
At the other end, Tabor collected a defensive stop and Herman led Watson on a break that looked like an instant replay.
But with more help coming, the Ottawa defender did not commit to Herman quickly, and she sensed the opening.
Cutting toward the basket, Herman forced the issue and drew the defense to her and then kicked the ball out to Watson.
But the 3-point shot, like so many others Tabor put up, caught iron and fell away.
Despite the inordinate number of bad bounces and deflections, the Bluejays kept the pressure on, and Watson tied the game with a 2-pointer with 7:55 to go in the half.
Ottawa followed with a 13-2 run powered by Boyce, who scored eight points in 3:09.
But the Bluejays put together 9-1 and went into halftime trailing 31-28.
Tabor was outscored 38-22 in the second frame and trailed by as much as 21 points.
Collectively, the Bluejays shot 17-of-58 from the field and committed 26 turnovers.
Ottawa shot 24-of-64 from the floor and had 17 steals.
Vogts had 12 point and 12 rebounds in a double-double effort for the home team. Kirsten Watson (10 points) was the only other Bluejay to score double-digits.
Ottawa and Tabor-both 11-2 on the season-are now tied for second place in the KCAC behind 12-1 Sterling.
Up next for the Bluejays is a trip to Winfield on Saturday. Tabor plays at Southwestern (8-5) at 5 p.m. The Moundbuilders are coming off a 62-59 loss at Sterling on Thursday.
