TABOR COLLEGE: Lady 'Jays out for KCAC crown
Team hopes
to keep improving
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Second-year coach Rusty Allen has steadily breathed life back into a Lady Bluejay basketball program that was on a respirator two years ago.
Unsure what to expect in his first year stint of coaching women's basketball, Allen's team nearly duplicated the Bluejays' previous year's performance, finishing at 13-16 overall and 9-9 in the KCAC.
Back-to-back 13 win seasons have been the best finish at Tabor since the early 90s.
The Bluejays were knocked out in the quarterfinal round of the KCAC tournament by a hot-handed McPherson Lady Bulldog team.
Allen's second year team figures to be better as it seems poised to continue climbing up the KCAC ladder from last season's fifth place finish.
There's good reason to expect bigger things from Tabor as four-fifths of last year's starters return along with five letter-winners.
Don't look now, the Bluejays appear to have the most talent since Susan Decker led Tabor to its final NAIA national tournament appearance in 1991.
"I've always thought that in coaching basketball, in order to reach your potential, you have to play together as a team," Allen said. "There's a certain amount of potential that you have that's based on the talent that comes to the table. You can't do a lot more about that once the season starts, but playing together as a team is how you get the most out of it."
Currently, the Bluejays are off to a 4-3 start and the cupboard on talent is full.
Tabor has set aside a series of goals this season, including the likes of playing as team, winning 18 games and improving from last season's fifth-place finish.
All of the goals seem achievable.
If there's a key to making Allen's offense go, it starts with the point guard.
And the Bluejays have two that can rev up the offense in Carmen Hein and Rachelle Wertenberger.
Hein possesses good ball handling and shooting skills and is as fast as lightning both on defense and pushing the ball down the court.
Wertenberger was a first-team all- league selection a year ago as a sophomore.
Returning as the leader in both scoring and thefts (15 ppg., 3 spg.,) Wertenberger is a force anywhere on the floor.
Needing more quality depth in the backcourt, Allen signed a pair of guards that will make an immediate impact this year and in the future.
Jill Hein, Carmen's cousin, brings tremendous athleticism to a team that is already brimming with it.
As a Class 3A all-state honorable mention selection last season for a Hillsboro High School team that was eliminated in the sub-state final, Jill has an outside game that is hard to stop.
"Jill has great quickness and skills," said Allen. "She defends and passes exceptionally well. She can hit the three point shot, takes the ball to the basket and posts up well."
Five-foot-5 freshman Trixsi Rodrigues saw plenty of action at the point when Carmen and Jill were still playing volleyball as did Erica Hemmert.
Hemmert scored a team-high 18 points in the Bluejays' first game of the season, a 49-44 heartbreaker to the Kansas Newman Jets.
The two will continue to provide Allen with quality minutes coming off the bench for Wertenberger and the Heins.
One of the biggest knocks against Tabor through the years has the been the lack of a presence inside.
Allen should have that problem taken care of this year, signing 6-1 transfer Casey Stucky, from Hutchinson Community College and 6-0 LaTasha Townsend from Holmes (Miss.) Community College.
Stucky has been a force this year, leading the Bluejays in scoring and rebounding in six of seven games.
Townsend will vie for time with Stucky in the post.
Whether or not Allen's inside players can dominate night-in and night-out was one of his early concerns.
"I think we're starting to see that we have quality depth inside," he said. "We've got several people that can get the job done at least in spurts. We may have only one right now (Stucky) that can do it for the long haul, but we have several that can do it in spurts. That's encouraging to me. I thought that was a key coming into the season."
The frontcourt should be as equally strong as the backcourt with Angela Kroeker returning.
Angela finished second in scoring to Wertenberger while leading the Bluejays with a 4.8 average a game in rebounding, earning honorable mention all league honors.
