TABOR COLLEGE: Lady 'Jays overcome slow start to top Bethel
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Heading into the holiday break, Lady Bluejay basketball coach Rusty Allen couldn't ask for a whole lot more from his team than what he's got right now.
At this time a year ago, the Bluejays were right at .500, 6-6 overall and 2-2 in the KCAC.
After overcoming a slow start Saturday night in North Newton against the Bethel Lady Threshers, Tabor used 31 Thresher-turnovers to eventually roll to a 65-51 win in the final game of the year.
The Bluejays are a game better than last year's mark, 6-5 overall and 2-2 in KCAC.
"I think we're playing well in some areas of the game," Allen said. "I think we have some work to do to try to get better, but I do believe that we will be much better by the end of January. I like where we're at right now."
Allen's chief complaint with the Bluejays has been taking care of the basketball, and the Threshers used several Bluejay mistakes to jump out to a 12-7 lead in the game's early stages.
"We got off to a slow start," said Allen. "We were fatigued, we were on the road, and we had a lot of mental barriers to overcome. I think that produced a slow start for us.
"We seemed a step slow defensively and offensively, and we were having a difficult time hanging on to the basketball under pressure."
The Bluejays switched to their bothersome zone defense midway through the first half which seemed to change the Threshers' flow.
Bethel's ball-handling was its main demise, helping Tabor to 20 of its 29 first half points.
A three-point play from Casey Stucky cut the Thresher-lead to 20-18 with just over 5:30 left before the break.
Stucky finished with a career-high 21 points, hitting eight for 11 from the floor and 5 for 6 from the foul line while pulling down a game-high eight rebounds, leaving her just two shy of a double-double.
"I was proud of the girls," Stucky said. "It took a lot for us to overcome Bethel's physical play, but we stepped it up and showed our heart in the second half."
Stephanie Stuber put the Bluejays ahead for good 24-23 with 2:10 left in the half as part of a 9-1 run which lifted Tabor to a 29-24 lead by halftime.
Tabor has a roster loaded with players that can shoot the three. But the Bluejays' perimeter shooting was ice-cold Saturday night, hitting one for 11 from outside.
Tabor was much better from the floor, hitting 25 of 55 for the night and 14 of 20 from the charity stripe.
"We've got better three-point shooters than that," Allen said. "We just weren't hitting. We weren't just a little off, we were way off. At halftime we decided we were going to pass those shots up and take the ball to the basket."
That they did with the Bluejays going inside to Stucky and LaTasha Townsend for high percentage shots as the duo furnished Tabor with its first eight points of the second half.
Townsend and Angela Kroeker rounded out the Bluejays' double digit scorers, respectively with 13 and 11.
The Threshers were still hanging around though with Danielle Deschenes' knotting the game at 35-35 with just over 15:00 left.
Bethel again tied the game at 37 before hitting a 5:00 scoring lapse.
Erica Hemmert triggered a 10-0 run that stretched the Bluejay-lead out to 49-37 by the time Lauren Symmonds hit a free throw to end the drought at the 9:29 mark.
Townsend's 13 points fueled a Bluejay bench that outscored Bethel 24-8.
"LaTasha had a really good game off the bench," said Allen. "I thought she had been slumping a little bit about three games prior to this. She hit her first shot, and it got her going and sparked her confidence in every area of the game."
The Bluejays resume action Jan. 3 in Hillsboro's Tabor Classic against second-ranked Concordia (Neb.,) and the Ottawa Lady Braves.
Bethany
The Bluejays again proved that they can hang with a top 10 team Dec. 12 in Hillsboro against the 10th-ranked Bethany Swedes.
Stucky and Hemmert tied for a team-high 13 points each, but it was not enough as the Swedes held off the surging Bluejays, 57-52.
Tabor hit 45 percent from the field while holding Bethany to 40 percent.
A big difference in the game was from the free throw line where the Bluejays were 4 for 9.
Tabor jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the game's first 4:00 before the Swedes' pulled ahead with a 7-0 run with Jodi Strathman scoring six of her game-high 24 points during the spurt.
Hemmert pushed the lead back to three, 27-24 with just over 1:00 left in the first half, but the Swedes again regained the lead by scoring five unanswered to go up at intermission, 29-27.
The Bluejays held the lead three times the second half, never being able to pull any further away than a sole point.
A Stucky-field goal with 3:05 left in the game put Tabor ahead 50-49 for the last time with the Swedes outscoring the Bluejays 8-2 in the remaining time.
