ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ANDREW OTTOSON
It has been said that all good things must come to an end-including the 16-game Tabor College women’s basketball winning streak.
Sterling College came into Hillsboro on Saturday and delivered a reminder there are several strong teams in the KCAC.
The Warriors took a commanding 12-point lead in the first half and left with a 70-53 win over the Bluejays.
“It was a very poor performance in all aspects,” head coach Rusty Allen said. “We’re not going to try to sugarcoat…a lot of times, it is good to be humbled.”
A slow start left the home team behind 8-0 only 2:29 into the game. A 6-1 run got made the score with 13:59 left in the half. Keying the spurt was Chelsea Malone, who sank a 2-point jump shot and got an assist on a Stacie Herman layup.
At 11:43, Herman hit a free throw that closed the gap to two.
Moments later, Sterling center Chandell Goodwin set the tone for a physical contest by setting a hard screen that flattened Kirsten Watson and cleared the way for K.C. Bassett to score.
Sterling scored two more unanswered baskets over the next 2:41 and pushed its lead to 17-9.
Tabor rallied again when Emily Vogts nailed a 2-pointer at 8:38 and Nicole Ellis scored a 3-point play at 8:01 to pull the Bluejays to within three points.
Bassett responded with a 3-pointer at 7:20.
Donya Anderson hit a pair of free throws and a 2-point field goal to counter, and Andrea Robinson fired a 3-pointer that made the score 26-21 with 3:18 left in the half.
But Bassett scored seven unanswered points in the final 2:15, and Sterling carried a 33-21 lead into the intermission.
Bright spots were hard to find for the Bluejays in the second half.
Aside from a 9-2 burst that made it an 11-point game with 14:25 to play, the Warriors had their way at both ends of the floor.
Tabor was whistled for 17 fouls in the half. Sterling made 20 of 29 free throws in the half and 25 of 39 for the game.
“To have our streak broken on our home court was, to me, a little embarrassing,” Allen said. “We weren’t ready. Our practice habits have been poor lately. I’ve communicated with the team and I think we’ll make a major turnaround, but that remains to be seen.”
Bassett led all scorers with 34 points. Anderson paced Tabor with 17 and Vogts finished with 12.
Tabor had won 42 consecutive regular season conference games.
Friends-Tabor ran away with the game in the second half of Thursday’s contest at Friends and defeated the Falcons 61-50.
Emily Vogts scored consecutive layups to give Tabor an early 4-0 lead. Friends rallied for a 9-6 lead, but the Bluejays used an 18-6 run to take a nine-point lead with 3:23 to go.
Vogts scored her 12th point of the half at 7:07, followed by Andrea Robinson drilling a 3-pointer at 5:28. Donya Anderson hit a free throw at 4:47 and a 2-pointer that capped the run at 4:01.
Led by Kristina Jones and Breanna Gross, the Falcons charged back with an 11-2 run that evened the score at halftime.
Vogts scored seven more points in the first 5:09 of the second half, to give Tabor a 35-33. Jones then ran the floor, scored a layup and finished the 3-point play with a free throw at 14:39 to give Friends a 36-35 lead.
The teams played the next 2:14 without scoring a point. But it was the calm before the storm, as it took only 1:49 for Tabor to effectively put the game away.
Kirsten Watson slashed to the rim for a layup at 12:25, sparking a 12-0 run that put the Bluejays up 47-36 with 10:36 left.
After Watson scored, Anderson drilled a 2-pointer, assisted on a Robinson 3-pointer and buried a 3-pointer of her own in a 44-second span.
Anderson assisted on Erin Runge’s layup at 10:36, and the Falcons were finished. The Friends never came within seven points of tying the game.
The Falcons began fouling with 2:01 to play, and Robinson closed out the game by making eight straight free throws.
Newman-The visiting Jets had only three wins when they landed in Hillsboro on Tuesday, but they nearly left with four.
“Newman has really come along recently,” coach Rusty Allen said. “Tonight I thought they were really good, especially in the second half. I have to tip my hat to them; they really showed a lot of guts.”
The Tabor women countered guts with guile and in the end, got the glory-a 76-73 overtime win.
Tabor took a 30-28 lead in the first half and the second half came down to the wire. With 10 seconds left and the score in Tabor’s favor at 64-62, Gretchen Berns drew a foul under the basket.
Berns, a 6-foot-2 freshman center from Peabody, missed both free throws, and Emily Vogts went to the floor with a Newman player to grab the rebound.
Both players got their hands on the ball, and the play was blown dead with 7.5 seconds left. But the possession arrow favored the Jets.
After a timeout, Tabor’s defense prevented the ball from being inbounded, and the visitors called their final timeout.
With a third crack at tying the game, Newman ran a play designed to put the ball and the game in the hands of its hottest player. The ball was inbounded into the deep corner and was swung around to Kaycee McGill at the top of the key.
McGill drove to the rim and scored at the end of regulation to complete a 9-2 run that tied the game, and Newman seemed to have the home team on the ropes.
The Jets also scored the first points of the overtime, taking its first lead of the game at 66-64.
With 2:58 to go, Andrea Robinson took a pass from Donya Anderson, faked a dribble-drive, and stepped back for 3-pointer that put Tabor back on top.
Emily Vogts pulled down a defensive rebound with 1:13 left, and was fouled. She made both ends of the one-and-one.
Newman scored two possessions later, making it a one-point game with 30 seconds to go.
Off a nice setup from Vogts, Anderson buried a 3-pointer to make it 74-70 with 22 seconds left, but McGill answered with her fourth 3-pointer of the night.
On the inbounds play, Stacie Herman was fouled and missed the front end of the one-and-one. But Vogts came down with another rebound, drew a foul and made two more free throws to push the margin back to three points.
Newman’s last-gasp half-court lob rimmed out.
Four Bluejays finished in double-digits: Ellis (18 points), Anderson (17 points), Vogts (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Robinson (13 points).
McGill had 28 points for Newman and Berns scored 15.
Coming-The Bluejays (6-1, 16-2 overall) will play Bethany (2-5, 4-13 overall) in Lindsborg on Thursday. That game will tip off at 6 p.m.
