After clobbering Ottawa 80-60 on Thursday, the Tabor College women’s basketball team faced a considerably tougher opponent in the conference-leading Southwestern Moundbuilders on Saturday.
Southwestern—Behind 27 points by KCAC Player of the Week Jenna Wilson, the Moundbuilders opened up a 27-18 lead on the way to a 33-29 halftime lead.
The Bluejays pulled within a possession when Chelsea Malone drained a long 2-point jump shot from the left wing side 2:04 into the second period, but could not pull any closer.
Every time Tabor made a big shot, Wilson seemingly came out of nowhere to restore the lead. During one 7:13 stretch late in the second half, Wilson scored nine of 11 Moundbuilder points to blunt Tabor’s bid for a late rally.
Joanna Pyle hit a short jumper in the paint to cut the Moundbuilder lead to 54-51 with 8:08 remaining in the second half, and the Tabor press stopped Wilson in the backcourt.
But Wilson connected on a 40-foot lob to Tylar Hartfield, who transformed an apparent turnover into an open layup.
Wilson made it 58-51 on Southwestern’s next possession.
Then, when Pyle buried a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to make it 58-54, Wilson overpowered a Tabor defender for a layup.
Chelsea Malone scored a 2-pointer on Tabor’s next possession, and Southwestern went back to Wilson for a 2-pointer.
Despite Wilson's huge game, the Bluejays were in it to the very last.
When Southwestern took a 64-57 lead on yet another field goal by Wilson, Stacie Herman answered with a pair of foul shots followed by a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left.
But in between Herman’s scores, Wilson went 3-for-4 at the foul line, pushing the Moundbuilder lead to 67-59 and forcing Tabor to foul in the endgame.
For Tabor, Brittany Roth totaled 10 points and Herman scored 11. Five others scored five or more.
Ottawa—Six Bluejays struck for double-digit point totals, and Ottawa trailed by a 35-25 margin at halftime.
Tabor was unrelenting in the second half and cruised to an 80-60 margin of victory.
The Braves shot only 7-for-27 before the intermission, but picked up their scoring in the second half.
But Tabor, having scored on 53 percent of their attempts in the first frame, continued to shoot the lights out in the second half.
Joanna Pyle led the Bluejays with 14 points and made all four of her 3-point attempts.
The five others with 10-plus points were Brittany Roth (12), Kirsten Watson (12), Chelsea Malone (10), Stacie Herman (10) and Jordon Crosson (10).
Coming—Tabor (4-12 overall, 3-2 conference) will meet Bethel (8-7, 2-4) at 6 p.m. Thursday in Hillsboro. The Bluejays travel to Sterling (7-7, 4-1) to play at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Write Comment
Write Comment
Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article.
Personal verbal attacks will be deleted.
Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed.
Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button.
Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
