ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ANDREW OTTOSON
When three of the team’s scorers all reach double-digits, the Tabor College women’s basketball team is tough to beat-and when Donya Anderson posts a double-double, life gets even harder for the opposition.
But at Friends University, it took more than efficiency at the offensive end for the Bluejays to win-until head coach Rusty Allen turned to the trap to turn up the defensive pressure, the Falcons kept pace with the visitors.
“The press is what made the difference in the game for us,” Allen said.
Friends took a 36-35 lead at 14:39 when Kristina Jones made a free throw to convert a 3-point-play.
But 2:24 later, the Bluejays switched to the more aggressive defense and blew the game open with five consecutive stops that led to five consecutive scores.
Kirsten Watson scored the first bucket of the burst: a layup on a nice feed from Andrea Robinson.
On the next possession, Watson passed to Anderson for a 2-pointer.
Friends turned the ball over on the inbounds play, leading to Anderson passing to Robinson for a 3-pointer.
Then Watson set up Anderson for a 3-point basket; on the next possession, Erin Runge took a pass from Anderson and converted a layup that gave the Bluejays an 11 point lead at 10:36.
Megan VinZant ended what had been a 12-0 run with a pair of free throws to make it 47-38 at 9:21, but Tabor taken control of the game.
When Friends began to foul down the stretch, Robinson sealed the game by making eight straight free throws.
Robinson and Anderson both finished with 14 points. Anderson completed the double-double with 14 rebounds, and Emily Vogts scored a game-high 19 points.
Anderson also had 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals.
Anderson picked up right where she left off last week-she was named KCAC “player of the week” after tallying 30 points to go with 15 rebounds,11 assists, 2 blocks and 6 steals.
Tabor is now 7-0 in the conference (16-1 overall) and has won 16 straight games.
The Bluejays will be in Hillsboro on Saturday for a contest with Sterling (6-1), and the second-ranked Warriors will put their streak of five straight wins on the line.
