Tabor splits pair with Ottawa

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
In a battle of nationally ranked teams, the seventh-rated Tabor Bluejay women defeated 20th-ranked Ottawa 62-52 at Tabor Gymnasium Thursday night.



Tabor trailed early but closed out the first half on a 13-0 scoring run to take a 29-18 lead into the halftime locker room.



Tabor’s lead grew to as many as 19 points in the second half as they hung on for the win to improve to 5-0 in the KCAC while Ottawa absorbed its first conference loss to fall to 4-1.



Tabor was led in scoring by Donya Anderson with 13 and Stacie Herman added 12 as Tabor connected on just 37.9 percent (22 of 58) of its field goal attempts but Tabor’s defense keyed the victory, holding Ottawa to just 30.8 percent (16 of 52) from the field.



Tabor converted 14 of 17 (82.4 percent) of its free throw attempts.



Both teams had trouble handling the basketball as each turned the ball over 26 times.



With the victory, Tabor moves to 11-3 overall.



The Tabor men weren’t as fortunate as they fell out of a share of the KCAC lead with a 68-62 loss to the Braves.



Tabor trailed by four at halftime, 33-29 but fought back in the second half of a tightly contested affair.



The score was still tied at 55 with 6:48 to play but Ottawa got a big 3-point basket from Marquis Washington and a reverse layup from Bret Lickteig to go up 60-55 with 5:53 remaining and held on for the six point win.



Tabor was its own worst enemy as they struggled from the charity stripe, hitting just 14 of 26 (53.8 percent) in the loss.



The Bluejays played much better than their previous two losses over the weekend and featured balanced scoring in the loss.



Matt Nelson and Grant Brubacher both scored 15 points for the Bluejays while Brad Gattis added 13 and Chris Metcalf chipped in 11 points.



Tabor hit 22 of 45 (48.9 percent) from the field but Ottawa was better, converting 24 of 48 (50.0 percent) from the field.



The Braves were led by Lickteig with 16 points.



With the loss, Tabor falls to 3-2 in the KCAC and 6-8 overall while Ottawa maintains a share of the conference lead with a 4-1 mark.



Tabor returns to action Saturday in Wichita when they battle the Friends Falcons.

The women tip off at 5:00 and the men follow at 7:00.

More from article archives
EDITORIAL: A parent’s guide to sports
ORIGINALLY WRITTEN A few years ago, we interviewed local coaches about a...
Read More