TABOR: Coyotes pose no threat to Tabor women
Lady 'Jays trounce KWU 93-44
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
The main thing Lady Bluejay coach Rusty Allen was worried about Saturday was whether his team would come out flat as a pancake or playing like their opponent was the KCAC champion.
Considering their opponent, the hosting Kansas Wesleyan Lady Coyotes, were still searching for their first win in the KCAC and 1-26 overall, it would be a cinch to suffer a letdown.
"If you consider that they hadn't won any conference games, you wonder what your team is going to think about that," Allen said. "I just really challenged them to try to ignore it and not entertain any thoughts on what is the quality of the opponent but more on how are we supposed to be playing the game."
Allen didn't need an amplifier to be understood.
Tabor got another balanced scoring onslaught to keep the Coyotes winless during the regular season, smothering them 93-44 in Salina.
The Bluejays closed out the regular season riding the crest of a six-game winning streak to a 16-10 record on the year.
Vowing back in early November to rewrite Tabor women's basketball history this season, Allen and the Bluejays did just that.
Their 12-6 third-place record in the KCAC marks the Bluejays' best finish in 12 years.
"I thought we did a pretty good job of that on both ends, offense and defense," Allen said. "It's hard to get them to say, 'OK I'm not to sit in a comfort zone. I'm going to play like we're playing for the championship.'
"But all year long my team has, whenever I've pointed something out to them, responded or made the effort to respond to what we say. I thought they did that tonight."
Not to mention Tabor's shooting a season-high 63 percent from the floor and having four players scoring in double digits.
Casey Stucky scored a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds. LaTasha Townsend followed with 16 points and the Kroeker sisters, Shannon and Angela, added 14 and 12, respectively.
The only commotion the Coyotes caused came 3:19 into the game when Andrea Velez's lay-up put them on top 5-4.
After that, KWU tried just about everything to slow down the Bluejays.
Ten of Angela Kroeker's 12 points came in the first half with eight coming during a 2:55 span when the Bluejays' stretched their lead to 18-13.
Slumping at the beginning of the year, the Bluejays' perimeter shooting finally appears to be living up to its billing.
On Saturday, the lethal marksmanship of Carmen Hein, Rachelle Wertenberger, and the Kroeker sisters burned the Coyotes from beyond the arc, hitting eight for 14 for 57 percent.
Back-to-back-to-back triples by Wertenberger and two by Hein inflated Tabor's lead to 37-19 with just under 7:00 remaining in the opening half.
A second chance basket by Wertenberger triggered a 10-0 run for the Bluejays, and their bulge grew to 47-21 by the time Jennifer Henderson's pair of free throws ended the Coyote drought.
Tabor outscored the Coyotes 10-2 in the closing 5:45, taking a commanding 49-23 lead at halftime while shooting 63 percent from the field and six for 10 from long range.
The swarming Bluejay defense suffocated the Coyotes, limiting them to 30 percent for the game while forcing 19 turnovers that Tabor turned into 22 points.
But the worst had yet to come for the Coyotes as they could only muster a ragged 26 percent shooting the second half and just one for seven from long range.
Five minutes into the second half, Tabor had again outscored the Coyotes 10-2 as the Bluejay lead swelled to 59-25 after a Wertenberger fastbreak.
Allen pulled his starters and put in his reserves midway through the second half with the game firmly in the Bluejays' control.
The Bluejay reserves didn't disappoint, singlehandedly outscoring the Coyotes in a 47-17 edge in bench scoring.
Tabor also blew out Wesleyan rebounding, 40-25, with the Bluejays' bench hauling in half of the 40.
"One thing that felt pretty good was that our second unit, if that's what you want to call them, was just as productive as our first unit, if not more so," Allen said.
The third-seeded Bluejays host the McPherson Bulldogs tonight with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m.
A Bluejay victory against the Bulldogs would likely set up a third match Saturday against the second-seeded Sterling Warriors, also a 7 p.m. start at Sterling.
Should either St. Mary or KWU shock the Warriors, Tabor would host Saturday's semifinal game.
Friends
The Bluejays had to overcome a ragged start Feb. 20 in Hillsboro but managed to outlast the Friends Falcons 52-45, despite shooting a chilling 31 percent from the field.
Stucky again had a game-high performance with 17 points, putting the Bluejays on top 8-3 with 17:00 left in the first half before Jenna Kokojan woke up.
Kokojan tied Stucky for game-high scoring honors, knocking down a quartet of threes in the first half.
Kokojan fueled a 16-0 run that the Falcons used to take a 19-9 lead as the Bluejays went nearly 10:00 without a field goal.
Shooting an icy season-low 19 percent from the floor and 11 percent from outside, Tabor staggered in at halftime, trailing 26-17.
Once down as many as 24-11, a pair of free throws by Angela Kroeker had shrunk the Falcon lead to 38-35 with 8:19 left in the game.
Angela Kroeker was the only other Bluejay to score in double figures with 10 points.
A free throw from Wertenberger with 4:16 to go provided the spark Tabor used to get finally get over the hump.
It was the foul line that saved the Bluejays with Stucky, Wertenberger, Erica Hemmert and Carmen Hein combining for a perfect eight of eight in the final 2:00.
Tabor was 21 for 28 at the line for the night led by a combined 10 for 10 from the Kroeker sisters and Hemmert.
Paced by Wertenberger's team-high seven rebounds, Tabor edged the Falcons battling for the boards, 38-34.
Tabor 93, KWU 44
Total points: A. Kroeker 12, Rodrigues 4, C. Hein 8, Wertenberger 9, S. Kroeker 14, Hemmert 6, McKillip 5, Stucky 17, Townsend 16, Soft 2.
Rebounds: A. Kroeker 2, Rodrigues 4, C. Hein 4, Wertenberger 5, S. Kroeker 2, Hemmert 1, Stuber 1, J. Hein 1, McKillip 5, Stucky 9, Townsend 3, Soft 1, Raber 1.
Assists: Rodrigues 3, C. Hein 3, Wertenberger 4, S. Kroeker 3, Hemmert 7, Stuber 2, McKillip 3, Soft 1.
Steals: Rodrigues 2, C. Hein 1, Wertenberger 2, Stuber 1, McKillip 2, Townsend 1.
