Lady Bluejays topple No. 13 Lady Warriors years ago
No. 14 Tabor ends 13-year hex against Sterling, 67-58
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The last time the Bluejays beat the Sterling Warriors, all Tabor's current players were sitting in elementary school.
Coach Rusty Allen was leading the Sabetha Bluejays to the Class 4A state tournament in 1991-92.
Current Baker coach and former all-world Bluejay Susan Decker led Tabor to a win over the Warriors and its last KCAC title.
Through four years, Allen's Bluejays have come close to knocking off Lonnie Kruse's Warriors, only to fall through the ice in the process.
Until Saturday night, Sterling's Gleason Center was a place off-limits for a Bluejay win.
Not this year.
The Bluejays (14-4, 7-1 KCAC) were finally able to snap a 28-game losing streak Saturday, shocking 13th-ranked Sterling on its home court, 67-58.
"We've had a couple of different times where we just about got them there," Allen said of stunning the Warriors. "There's no question we've been knocking on the door and we finally got it to open so it felt pretty good. We finally got that monkey off our back."
With the win, the only team separating Tabor from taking over sole possession of first place in the KCAC are the Friends Falcons.
Count on that stingy Bluejay zone defense to fluster opponents, much like it did to the Warriors.
It wasn't that way early on, despite Tabor scalding the nets for 61 percent from the floor the first half.
The Bluejays opened the game with their emergency brake on as the Warriors pulled ahead in the first 5:45 of the game.
Using a balanced scoring attack from the trio of Stacie Herman, Donya Anderson, who combined for 32-points, and Katie Fast, Tabor finally got over the hump with under 10:00 left.
Anderson's 16 points off 7-of-11 shooting marked a season-high. Fast added 11 points.
The Bluejays never relinquished their lead, harassing the Warriors into a putrid 33 percent shooting the first half and 34 for the game.
A team that looks to push the ball inside for high percentage shots, the Warriors were forced to rely on outside shooting due to the Bluejay zone.
Without the Warriors' 9-for-23 shooting from long range, they'd have gotten the beating they're accustomed to putting on opponents.
"I think he (Kruse) felt like he was forced to shoot more threes just because the zone wasn't allowing any penetration inside," said Allen. "They weren't scoring off offensive rebounds and it was hard for them to get points in the lane, so they took more three point shots."
The Bluejays' red hot shooting gave them a 31-24 lead at recess.
Turnovers and putting the Warriors at the free throw line have been two of the biggest downfalls of the Bluejays through the years.
That changed, too with Tabor putting Sterling at the line just 13 times where it hit nine shots while Tabor committed just 15 turnovers.
While the Bluejays' shooting cooled off a tad the second half, connecting on 12-for-27, Anderson caught fire, scoring 12 points while pulling down a team-high nine rebounds.
Tabor outdid Sterling battling for rebounds, too, 39-35 with Herman chipping in with six.
Regardless of how big a lead the opponent has, rest assured the Warriors will fight back, and Allen would be one of the first to vouch for that.
His teams have had a lead on the Warriors heading into the closing minutes, but hit the panic button and self-destructed down the stretch.
Tabor's once largest lead of the game, 59-46, disintegrated to 61-55 with under 1:00 left in the game.
"It gets toward the end and they make a little run like they're (Sterling) going to every time. How are you going react to that?" Allen said. "This time, instead of panicking, turning the ball over, and losing concentration, we dug our heels in and stayed confident."
The only thing clouding the Bluejays' blue skies was the 13-for-24 shooting at the free throw line with 11-of-18 coming the second half.
Erica Hemmert and Herman combined to hit 4-for-4 in the final :15 to make it a three possession game for Sterling. Hemmert finished with nine points, snagging four rebounds.
The Bluejays face a formidable week starting tonight when they travel to Ottawa for a 6 p.m. game against the Lady Braves.
Tabor then hosts the Southwestern Lady Builders at 5 p.m. Saturday.
