The Tabor College basketball teams swept Ottawa on the road Saturday.
Women—On a night when neither team shot the ball incredibly well, Tabor earned a 49-40 victory.
The Bluejays made just four of their first 15 attempts from the field and held a narrow, 13-12, lead at the end of the first quarter. Kaleigh Troxell led the effort with eight points, including two three-pointers.
Troxell made her third three-pointer—her 11th points of the game—to extend Tabor’s lead to 22-16 with 3:02 left in the half. Morgan Ediger scored twice after that for a double-digit Tabor lead, which Ottawa narrowed to 26-18 at halftime.
The Bluejays struggled in the third quarter, making just one free-throw and one field goal the duration of the period. To be fair, neither team shot well, but Ottawa scored eight to close the gap to 29-26 heading into the final quarter.
A back-and-forth battle ensued to start the fourth quarter. The turning point came when Ottawa was penalized with a technical foul with Tabor leading 39-37 with 3:59 to play. Amber Bonham made a pair of free-throws then drained a three-point basket a minute later. By the time Taylor Deniston scored with 1:52 to play, Tabor’s lead had grown to 46-37, and the Bluejays went on to win by that same margin.
Deniston scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter to share top scoring honors with Troxell, who also scored 11. Ediger grabbed nine rebounds to go with her five points. Tabor shot 32 percent from the field (17-for-54). Ottawa shot 30 percent (15-for-50).
Men—After limiting Ottawa to just 25 first-half points, Tabor earned a 97-84 victory Saturday.
The Bluejays shot the ball well all night, finishing at 56 percent from the field for the game (37-for-66), while limiting Ottawa to 41 percent (28-for-69).
The Braves made just nine of 33 first-half attempts from the field (27 percent), while Tabor made 18 of 34 (53 percent).
Tabor trailed, 7-6, early, then scored 17 points to Ottawa’s two in a six-minute stretch to enjoy a 23-9 lead. Six Bluejays contributed points to the effort, led by Julian Winton with five.
The Bluejays built their lead to 18 points by the end of the first half, enjoying a 43-25 advantage at intermission. Winton scored 13 of his game-high 27 in the first half.
Tabor led by as many as 24, 64-40, with 11:27 to play, but over the next three and a half minutes, the Braves slowly chipped away at the deficit, outscoring Tabor 20-7.
However, although Ottawa drew within 10 a few times, Tabor maintained a double-digit lead to the end. The Bluejays made all 10 of their free-throws attempted in the final 4:02 to finish 19-for-23 from the charity stripe (83 percent). Alan Urrutia made the last two to bring it to the final, 13-point spread.
Four Bluejays scored in double figures, led by Winton with 27 points. Davaghndre Jones and Lance Carter each scored 16 points. Carter dished out 11 assists and grabbed eight rebounds. Urrutia scored 12 points. JT Clerveus added nine. Tullio Parry, meanwhile, recorded 17 rebounds to go with his eight points.
Coming—Tabor will host Southwestern Tuesday. The women will play at 5 p.m. The men will play at 7 p.m.
For scores and updates during games, follow Janae on Twitter @janaerem13
