The Tabor College women?s basketball team won two games last week to remain alone atop the KCAC standings with a 13-3 conference record.
Bethany?Tabor shot the ball well in its 69-31 victory Saturday, making 48.1 percent of its shots from the field (25-52).
?I thought offensively, that?s probably the best we?ve played against a zone this year,? coach Shawn Reed said. ?It started off rough, both the beginning of the game and in the second half, the beginning, but in the first half in particular, our post passing was really good. We got the ball to the middle of the zone (and) were able to find some holes and gaps.?
It took time for Tabor to find its rhythm, especially on the defensive end. Tena Loewen and Tonisha Dean gave the Bluejays a 5-0 lead, but Bethany tied the game with an 8-3 run. Following a 10-10 tie at 12:28, Tabor turned up the heat defensively, allowing Bethany to score only four points the rest of the half.
?(Bethany) got to the rim, and I think they scored three baskets in the paint pretty early, and we had no help defense, and we weren?t rotating,? Reed said. ?Then we got on them a little bit and the help got a lot better.?
Loewen ignited an 8-0 surge before Bethany scored at 7:34. From there, Loewen scored a traditional three-point play, which was the start of 10-0 run, putting Tabor in front, 28-12. Zuercher scored Tabor?s final five points of the half for a 33-14 lead at intermission.
?The defense got a lot better,? Reed said. ?The rebounding was better. We got some nice things offensively. Erin Maxwell did some nice things in the first half offensively to keep us going. I thought she played really well off the bench.?
Tabor shot 50 percent from the field in the first half (13-26), while Bethany shot 28 percent (7-25).
Bethany scored the first two points of the second half, but back-to-back baskets by Loewen and Zuercher pushed Tabor?s lead to 37-16. Tabor led, 42-20 when Kayla Wilgers scored off a turnover, and Bethany scored at the 13:27 mark, but the Swedes did not score again for the next five minutes. Meanwhile, Tabor used a 10-0 run to build a 52-22 lead with 8:47 to go. Not long after that, coach Shawn Reed began clearing his bench.
Tabor led by as many as 40 and won by 38.
Loewen led all scorers with 11 points. Zuercher added 10.
Kansas Wesleyan?Tabor?s stifling defense carried the Bluejays to a 53-38 win over the Coyotes Thursday night.
With the Coyotes just one game back in the conference standings prior to the game, the win kept the Bluejays alone at the top with a record of 12-3, while Kansas Wesleyan fell to 10-5.
?That was the best defensive game that I have been a part of for 40 minutes,? coach Shawn Reed said. ?That was just a lockdown effort. To hold them to 38 points on their home court is fantastic, and it says a lot about our team?s effort and their communication and just their discipline for that entire time. And (the Coyotes) have a lot of offensive weapons. That?s a good offensive team.?
In the teams? first meeting this season, Tabor won, 82-73, in double overtime. That night, Kansas Wesleyan played without their leading scorer, Jenna Farris.
?She did not play the first time,? Reed said. ?She was sick, and so that was hard for us (tonight) because she?s their leading scorer, a very good player, and we hadn?t had a look at her. A lot of (her team-high 12 points) came in the second half, and I thought we did a pretty good job on her early, maybe late got a little tired.?
In what turned out to be a low scoring first half, Tabor limited the Coyotes to just three points in the first 11 minutes, and used an 8-0 run to build a 12-3 advantage when Tena Loewen scored at 9:18. From there, Kansas Wesleyan outscored Tabor 12-4, leaving the Bluejays clinging to a narrow, 16-15 lead with 3:11 left in the half. Tabor led, 20-17, at halftime. Kansas Wesleyan shot just 27.3 percent in the first half (6-22), while Tabor shot 37.5 percent (9-24).
After the break, the Coyotes tied the game at 22. But Tabor turned up the heat with a 20-5 run. Kayla Wilgers contributed eight points to the surge, and six Bluejays scored during that stretch. By the time Wilgers drained a three, Tabor was firmly in control, 42-27, with 5:22 left in the game.
?In the second half, we sputtered a little early and then we really found something offensively?one of our plays?that worked, and we just kind of rode that,? Reed said. ?Then that opened up some other things for us.?
The margin remained in double figures the rest of the way. Tabor led by as many as 17 points and cruised to the 15-point win.
The Bluejays shot 42 percent from the field (21-50). Wilgers led all scorers with 14 points. Tonisha Dean added 12. Tabor scored 24 points off 22 Coyote turnovers.
Coming?Tabor (13-3, 8-4) will host Sterling (8-8, 11-16) Thursday at 6 p.m. and will conclude the regular season by hosting Ottawa (10-6, 14-12) Saturday at 5 p.m.
?We?ve got two games at home against two quality opponents in Sterling and Ottawa,? Reed said. ?We?ll have to be ready to go for both of those. We?ve got a one-game lead with two to play, and we?ll see what happens.?
