Defense lifts TC past John Brown

Kayla Wilgers drives inside during the first half of Tabor?s 63-44 victory over John Brown Tuesday. Wilgers led the Bluejays with 17 points and made all five three-point baskets she attempted.  Janae Rempel / Free PressAfter defeating NAIA Division I opponent John Brown earlier in the week, the Tabor College women?s basketball team lost an exhibition game at NCAA Division II Fort Hays State Saturday, 74-44. The Tigers are receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll.

Boosted by four three-pointers in the first 6:36, the Bluejays drew within 18-17 when Kayla Wilgers hit a three at the 13:24 mark.

But the Tigers burst with a 13-0 run from there. Hannah Willems cut the deficit to 31-23 with a three-pointer, but the first half ended with Fort Hays in front, 46-30.

The Tigers maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the way for the 30-point win.

Tabor shot 35.6 percent from the field (16-45) and made only five of 20 attempts in the second half (25 percent). Wilgers led the scoring effort with nine points.

The Bluejays committed 29 turnovers, off which the Tigers scored 32 points.

Fort Hays shot 45.9 percent from the field (28-61).

John Brown?Boosted by a stifling defense, Tabor defeated NAIA Division I No. 7 John Brown Tuesday, 63-44.

?Our defense really keyed our offense, I thought,? coach Shawn Reed said. ?We just played some tremendous defense in that game total, but especially in the second half. We’ve been working hard on playing better defense.

?If we can play defense like that, we will be tough.?

Tabor struggled to find its rhythm offensively in the first half, shooting just 29.2 percent from the field (7-24).

But the Bluejay defense kept them in the game, and by halftime, had forced 12 Golden Eagle turnovers. John Brown led by as many as five points a couple times in the first half, the last at 21-16 at the 7:04 mark. Aided by their defense, the Bluejays closed the gap to 24-22 at intermission.

Tabor came out of the break on fire. Kaleigh Troxell knocked down a three-pointer as the shot clock expired to ignite a 12-0 burst that also included a Kayla Wilgers three and back-to-back baskets by Tonisha Dean.

The surge was part of a dominating Tabor offensive performance in which the Bluejays outscored John Brown 29-8, to stake a 51-32 lead with 5:31 left in the game after back-to-back threes from Troxell and Wilgers.

The Golden Eagles responded with a three of their own, but Tabor increased its lead to a game-high 21 points, 56-35, when Wilgers drained her fourth three-pointer of the night. From there, it was smooth sailing, as Tabor went on to win by 19.

?In the first half, I didn’t think we were very patient,? Reed said. ?They run motion offense, and they make you play defense a long time, and so we were working really hard defensively.

?Then we were coming down on the offensive end, making two, maybe three passes and trying to score, and we needed to catch our wind and make them play some defense. I think we ran our stuff better in the second half.?

Wilgers led Tabor with 17 points on 5-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Troxell added 13 points, hitting 3-of-6 three-point attempts. Dean chipped in 10 points.

Tabor shot 40 percent from the field (20-50), including 40 percent from three (8-20). Tabor also shot a blistering 93.8 percent from the charity stripe (15-16).

?I saw a lot of smiles (in the locker room) and some confidence because I think they know that was a good team,? Reed said. ?That’s a really good team. They’re well coached. I have a ton of respect for them and what they do, and we just went out and I think hopefully proved something to ourselves tonight.?

Coming?Tabor (4-6)?will kick off conference play at No. 13 Southwestern (4-3) Thursday at 6 p.m. The Bluejays will host Friends (8-2), who is tied with Southwestern at No. 13, Saturday at 5 p.m.

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