Tabor tripped up at Sterling

A three-overtime thriller ended with the Sterling College women
89-84 over the the Tabor women, but only after three Bluejays fouled
out. Starting considerably later than expected,the Sterling men beat Tabor 82-62 Saturday night.

Zach
Vanselow led all scorers with 15 points and Mike Rousell scored 11 in
the first half, including a 2-pointer that gave the Bluejays a 10-4
lead out of the gate.

Orson Thomas put back an Aaron Whitelaw
miss, giving Tabor a 19-14 lead at the 11:08 mark, but Sterling broke
off a 10-0 run to claim the lead for good.

Tabor knotted the game
at 25-25, 27-27 and 29-29, but entered halftime trailing 37-30 with
Sterling having scored six consecutive points–four at the foul
line–in the 1:22 before intermission.

Thomas cut it to 47-41
4:13 into the second half, and Whitelaw buried a 3-pointer that made it
59-53 at the midpoint. Whitelaw hit another triple with 7:49 to go,
cutting the Sterling lead to 9 points, but the Warriors ran away with
it, outscoring Tabor 17-6 during the final 7-plus minutes of play.

?Tabor is now 3-5 on the year, and Sterling is 5-2.

?The
Bluejay women played a much more focused game, jumping out to a 21-11
lead in the first 10:49. Sterling roared back with a 9-2 run. Tabor
Pushed the lead back to seven when Jordan Crosson and Joanna Pyle threw
in back-to-back scores, and Stacie Herman made it eight with
consecutive 3-pointers at the end of the half.

But just nine
seconds after Herman connected from beyond the perimeter, Hillary
Stucky hit a three to make the halftime score 37-32.

Tabor led
the entire second half, but Ashley Kraft sent the game into extra
sessions with a field goal for a 63-63 score with six seconds to go.

Tabor returned the favor in both of the first two overtimes, with Kirsten Watson twice draining game-tying 3-pointers.?

The
first came with 38 seconds left in the initial overtime, but neither
team could break the 73-73 deadlock. The second came with 20 seconds to
go in the middle overtime. Tabor called a time out the instant Watson's
shot went through and set up a full court press with a lineup composed
of five guards. The play worked to perfection, forcing a bad pass with
11.4 seconds left.

The Bluejays then inbounded to Tasia Johnson
and cleared the lane to isolate her against a single defender, who
Johnson torched with a shake-and-bake stutter-step. But as had been the
pattern established against Tabor's slashing drives, the Warrior help
defense closed fast and hard, knocking both the shot and the shooter to
the floor while managing to avoid a whistle in the process.

?Sterling
outscored Tabor 10-5 in the decisive third overtime thanks in large
part to four points on early baskets by Britany Gasper, who finished
with 20 points. Kraft led all scorers with 28, nine of which came after
the end of regulation.

Herman led Tabor with 22 points, including a five-for-six showing beyond the arc. Watson scored 16, and Brittany Roth had 13.

The loss puts the women two games (5-3) behind Sterling (6-1) in the conference standings. Both teams trail 7-1 Southwestern.

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