The Tabor College women's basketball team fell to Bethel by a 68-62
margin. The men won 60-52 on the strength of 20 points from Zach
Vanselow.
Mike Rousell made the standout play of the first frame,
knocking a pass away from its intended target, where it was recovered
by Kyle de Blonk. De Blonk fed it ahead to Rousell, who finished the
fast break with a 1-handed dunk.?Tabor entered intermission tied with the Threshers 25-25.
Vanselow
dominated the early portion of the second half, scoring the first
basket and rolling up 10 points in the first 6:47 of the period. During
the run, Vanselow finished off a lob from Kyle Kroeker for a 35-29 lead
and knocked down a midrange jumper that made it 37-35 just prior to a
Tabor timeout.
The Bluejays continued to wreck havoc in the
paint, with Jared Hett grabbing the rebound of his own miss and scoring
the putback for a 39-35 lead. Hett scored again a moment later, pushing
the lead to 41-35. Hett also had what looked like a layup-and-1
opportunity wiped off the board by a traveling call during a 12-3 run
that made it? 47-38 with 9:54 to go.
Bethel behemoth Dakota
Sorenson victimized Vanselow for a layup-and-1 coming out of a Thresher
timeout, but made the mistake of leaving Vanselow unchecked in the high
post on Tabor's ensuing possesion, and Vanselow knocked down a jumper
from a step beyond the left elbow.
Vanselow also laid in a save
by Hett, who hurtled out of bounds and fired a no-look desperation ball
back into play under the Tabor basket and nearly set up a dunk in the
process. That silk purse made it 51-48, and Orson Thomas followed it up
with a traditional 3-point play with 3:55 to go.
Stingy defense
the rest of the way, combined with a 5-for-6 run of 1-and-1 free throws
by Aaron Whitelaw, finished off the game.?
Whitelaw finished with 13; Thomas had 12.?
The women were less
fortunate in the closing moments of their game. Leading 45-40 with 5:09
left, Tabor was done in by a 9-0 Bethel run that left them down four
and playing catchup the rest of the way.
Back-to-back baskets by
Joanna Pyle?the second of which turned into a traditional 3-point play
at 6:13?gave Tabor a short-lived 58-54 lead.
Bethel knotted it at
58-58 and 62-62 before seizing the lead for good with 1:01 left. A
triple by Angela Wood sealed it for Bethel with 17 seconds remaining.
Stacie Herman scored 23 points despite spending most of the evening in
foul trouble, and Chelsea Malone scored 18. Bethel shot 22-for-31 at
the foul line, and the Bluejays went 12-for-20 from the stripe at their
end.
