Emporia, Fort Hays beat Jays in exhibitions

TCwbbSweatPB100900.jpg
TCwbbSweatPB100900.jpg

Eboni Sweat leans into an Oklahoma Wesleyan player, drawing a foul. Sweat converted the layup and the free throw, but the Eagles held on for a 75-71 win.

Two exhibition losses at Emporia State over the weekend did not impact the Tabor College women?s basketball team non-conference record, but a 75-71 home loss to Oklahoma Wesleyan Nov. 10 dropped the Bluejays to 0-3 for the season.

Tabor fell to Fort Hays State 78-63 on Saturday and was drubbed 103-44 by Emporia State on Sunday.

Emporia?The Hornets took a 20-0 lead 6:27 in, and never looked back. Katie Mount got the Bluejays on the board with a steal-and-score layup with 12:43 left in the first half.

Andrea Robinson knocked down a 3-pointer assisted by Stephanie Silvas 6:14 later, and the Bluejays broke into double-digits on back-to-back layups by Roxanne Stauffer and Sarah Wyckoff.

A layup by Eboni Sweat made it 55-15 with 1:39 left in the first half.

The Bluejays scored 29 points in the second half; Mount scored 11 more, and finished with a team-high 13 for the contest.

Silvas hit four jumpers in a row during a 2:57 span, and finished with 10 points.

Emporia State put five players in double-figures: Ida Edwards had a 10-point, 16-rebound double double to lead; Jamie Augustyn (16 points), Alli Volkens (15), Cassondra Boston (14), and Lacy Corker (13) followed.

Fort Hays?The Tigers took a 46-34 halftime lead and made the differential stand in the second half.

Tabor never led, but did chop what had been a 20-point deficit down to one possession.

The Bluejay defense held Fort Hays scoreless for the first 4:05 of the second half, and the Tabor offense scored nine consecutive points to pull within 46-45.

Kirsten Watson hit a jump shot and a layup to start the run, and Eboni Sweat converted a layup-and-1 to cut the differential to five, 46-41.

Gina Hullet and Stephanie Silvas subbed in after Sweat?s foul shot, and Hullet rebounded a Silvas miss on the Bluejays next possession.

Hullet sank the layup and drew a foul, then knocked down the free throw to make it 46-44.

Sweat drew another foul on Tabor?s next trip, and hit one of the foul shots. But that was as close as Tabor came, as a fast break layup off a miss by Hullet broke the Bluejays run and sparked a 20-0 spurt that effectively put the game out of reach.

Tabor countered with a 10-1 run: a 3-pointer by Katie Mount followed by a Sweat jumper, a Watson trey, and two foul shots by Sarah Wyckoff made it 66-55 with 6:06 left.

Led by Erica Biel, Fort Hays outscored Tabor 12-8 the rest of the way. Biel posted a 17-point, 17-rebound double double to lead the Tigers. Naomi Bancroft led all scorers with 19, and Audra Binford had 13 for FHSU.

Watson led the Bluejays with 15 points; Sweat had 14, and Brittany Roth had 12 rebounds.

Oklahoma Wesleyan?The Eagles? 42-point second half turned Tabor?s 36-33 halftime lead into a four-point loss.

The Bluejays trailed for the first 10:54 of the game, but shot their way out of a 20-13 deficit with 11 points in 3:07.

The rapid rally began with Andrea Robinson drilling a 3-point shot at 11:19. Eboni Sweat followed with a layup, and Robinson gave Tabor its first lead of the night, 21-20, with another triple.

Kirsten Watson followed with a 3-pointer, and Tabor ramped its lead to six on a jumper by Sweat assisted by Watson with 2:26 left in the half.

Wesleyan cut it to one, 32-31, with a 5-0 spurt.

But a point-blank basket by Brittany Roth set up by Stephanie Silvas gave Tabor a 36-33 advantage at intermission.

The lead evaporated 6:32 into the second half, when the Eagles capped an 11-4 run with a bucket by Ashley Jones.

A field goal by Samantha Brant made it a 12-point Tabor deficit with 8:39 to play.

The Bluejays rallied at the foul line, scoring five points out of a 10-0 run at the charity stripe, with a Sarah Wyckoff 3-pointer and a Sweat 2-pointer sprinkled in.

It was tooth-and-nail from there, with the Bluejays dialing up the defensive pressure and the Eagles making tough shots.

Michelle Matthews hit the decisive jumper?a triple with 1:45 to go?to make it 68-59, Wesleyan, forcing the Bluejays to foul.

But before the clock expired, Brittany Roth answered with a layup-and-1 assisted by Watson, and a 3-pointer by Sweat allowed the Bluejays to set up a trap on the Wesleyan inbounds with 51 seconds to go.

The trap forced a turnover, but a bad pass gave the ball right back to the Eagles, who pushed their lead back to 71-65 with a free throw.

Watson answered with a 2-pointer with 44 seconds to go and a layup with 20 seconds left. She also hit a 2-point shot with time expiring.

Coming?The women's team hosted University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Bluejays play at the Sterling Classic Nov. 21-22.

Tabor plays St. Gregory at 2 p.m. Friday and Missouri Baptist at 2 p.m. Saturday.

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