Lady Jays win eighth straight game
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
There's plenty of reason for Lady Bluejay coach Rusty Allen to be in a good mood these days: after battling the injury bug, Tabor's can of repellent is finally starting to work.
So far this season, injuries have shunned the Bluejays away from the kind of game Allen thrives on pressuring opponents.
Two days earlier, Saturday night's opponent, the McPherson Lady Bulldogs put up 93 points in a 103-93 loss at KCAC- heavyweight Sterling.
With almost everybody back in Allen's rotation, Tabor's (8-1, 2-0 KCAC) defense was suffocating Saturday, smothering the Bulldogs for an 86-53 waltz and its eighth straight win.
"We've had a lot of injuries," Allen said. "Just this week, we changed up our style of defense. Up until this week, we've been playing conservatively defensively. We didn't have any depth.
"We couldn't afford to get into foul trouble, we couldn't afford to get fatigued. This week, we went back to what I like and that's pressure the ball. It was very effective."
The Bluejays proved that, holding the Bulldogs to a scant field goal for nearly the first 8:00 of the game and a frigid 13 percent from the floor the first half and just 30 percent overall.
By then, Tabor was on a 19-2 run and seemingly on its way to an easy win.
Tabor ended the first half on a 14-3 run, shooting 44 percent from the floor and 4-for-8 from three-point range to lead McPherson 37-12.
"We played really tough defensively for 20:00," Allen said. "We made it almost impossible for them to get good looks at the basket, I was really pleased with our defensive effort."
Kirsten Watson sunk a pair of freethrows to give the Bluejays their largest lead of the game, 59-24, with 13:32 to go.
Those freethrows were the last points Tabor could score for nearly 6:00, though, as the Bulldogs erased the deficit with 22 straight points to 59-46 with 7:35 left.
"You can't relax against McPherson," said Allen. "They've got some good players, they've got several players that can shoot it, and they run the court well. We kind of let up, and they took advantage of it."
With a game-high 19 points from Nicole Ellis, 13 from Kirsten Watson, and 12 from Emily Vogts, who also snagged in a team-high eight rebounds, the Bluejays were able to extend their lead again with an 8-0 run.
Vogts fueled an 11-0 run that put the Bulldogs away, stretching Tabor's lead to 81-49 with 2:00 left.
"One thing that was good, though was we didn't let the game slide like that," Allen said. "We did a good job of refocusing, then grabbed complete control of the game again. I thought it was good team effort and we're playing good team basketball."
Tabor travels Thursday to Leavenworth to face St. Mary, then faces the defending KCAC champion host Ottawa Lady Braves Saturday in a revenge game before a 20-day layoff.
