The women jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opener, with
Kirsten Watson nailing a 3-point shot at 15:41. The lead grew to 11-3
on when Addie Cole finished off a pass from Joanna Pyle under the
basket, and to 15-5 on foul shots by Herman and Chelsea Malone. Tabor
led 25-15 with 2:46 left in the half, but Saint Mary put together a 5-0
run on the strength of five fast points by Lacy Leonard. Leonard
totaled 13 points in the half, but was held to only one field goal
after intermission
Tabor led 27-22 at the break and broke the
game wide open with an 11-0 run to start the second frame. The Spires
scored their first basket of the period at 15:42?Leonard's first and
only points of the half?but by then, Tabor held an insurmountable 38-24
lead. A pair of steals by Kirsten Watson led to a pair of layups?one
for Addie Cole at 14:23 and one for Herman at 13:58?that made the
margin 20 points.?
?Herman and Watson left the game, but would
soon re-enter, as Tabor's organization at both ends of the court
suffered without either of its floor generals in action. Herman
re-entered at 10:43 and immediately drilled a 3-pointer from the top of
the key. On Tabor's next possession, Cole coralled a loose ball near
the Tabor bench and flipped it to Cheri Mount, who dished off to
Herman, who took a dribble toward the right elbow and nailed a pull-up
jumper for a 46-26 lead. The lead reached 29 when Pyle threw in a
2-point jump shot from the left corner and reached 30 when Stephanie
Silvas stripped the Saint Mary point guard for an easy fast break layup
with 2:20 to go.? In the closing seconds, Katie Mount swished a
3-pointer for 74-32 advantage.
?All told 10 Bluejays found the scoresheet, though only Pyle and Herman reached double figures. Pyle had 15.
?The
men's game followed a similar arc, as the Bluejays built a 9-4 lead on
their way to a 33-31 halftime lead. Mike Rousell sparked the strong
start with 10 first-half points.
Saint Mary faded rapidly late in
the second half, and Tabor's dominate effort in the paint and from
3-point range certainly did not help the Spires cause. Having topped 50
percent with a 13-for-25 effort in the first half, the Bluejays found
another gear in the second half, going 18 of 27 from the floor and 5 of
8 from the arc.
With nearly 67 percent of their shots falling,
the Bluejays scored their first 12 points of the half from 3-point
range. Saint Mary slowed the Bluejays momentarily and whittled the
Tabor lead from 45-37 to 52-51. But when Kyle De Blonk crashed down the
left side of the lane on a dribble-drive, then cut across the paint and
pinpointed Mike Stoecker for a wide-open 2-pointer at the right elbow,
an avalanche of easy baskets followed.
On the subsequent trip,
Jordan Funk and Stoecker played a 2-man game on the right wing side,
with Funk feeding Stoecker in the post and Stoecker kicking the ball
out to Funk, who found an easy pull-up jumper on the right side of the
key. It was Stoecker's turn on the next possession, and he scored a
10-foot shot assisted by Whitelaw on right wing. A hustling Orson
Thomas kept the next possession alive for Tabor, as he tipped a loose
ball amid two Spires? in better position to catch the rebound, and the
ball went off a Saint Mary player out of bounds. On the inbounds play,
Thomas set a screen for Jared Hett who took the inbounds pass in the
right corner and whistled a 3-pointer through the net.
A moment
later, Hett scored a 2-pointer set up by Thomas. Thomas scored Tabor's
next six points, including a 3-point play set up when Zach Vanselow
threaded an interior pass to him through a keyhole for an easy score
plus the foul and free throw. Saint Mary scored for the first time in
5:16 on a pair of foul shots by D'Mario Newton. Newton led the Spires
with a team-high 15 points, but the foul shots hardly slowed the run.
Thomas put an exclamation point on the end of the 17-2 outburst with a
dunk at 4:59.
Short two starters for the remainder of the game,
Saint Mary went to its bench at with 4:43 to go, and the Bluejays
followed suit at the 2:56 mark. Lance Barr shook off a clobbering in
the lane and tacked on one final highlight reel layup with 1:19 to go.
Whitelaw led all Bluejay scorers with 15 points, but the whole
starting lineup finished right on his heels: Thomas, Hett and Rousell
each totaled 13, and Vanselow notched 12.
Coming–the Bluejays face Friends Saturday in Hillsboro. The women play at 5 p.m. and the men follow at 7.
