TABOR: Lady Bluejays back on winning track
Balanced scoring aides Tabor women in upending Friends 56-44
BY RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
After dropping two of their last three winnable games, Lady Bluejay coach Rusty Allen knew he had to figure out how to get other players driving to the basket besides Casey Stucky and LaTasha Townsend.
Losses to both Southwestern and St. Mary, nobody was there to pick up the slack when the Bluejays' post players struggled.
When Stucky and Townsend were off, the end results was Tabor shooting under 35 percent from the floor.
Allen finally found a way to get other players involved Saturday night in Wichita against the shorthanded Friends Falcons.
Ten Bluejays made it into the scoring books paced by Townsend's team-high 10 points as Tabor picked up a huge 56-44 win on the road.
"It's nice to see that kind of balance," Allen said. "I thought everybody that came in contributed to the success of the team.
"We're passing the ball better, and we're cutting to the basket, and we are getting more to the basket than just Casey and LaTasha. That was a big part of our emphasis — that we had to get more people to the basket than just our two centers."
Instead of just Stucky and Townsend taking it inside, Jill Hein, Angela Kroeker, Rachelle Wertenberger, and Erica Hemmert all did, too.
And Tabor posted one of its best overall shooting percentages of the season, 20 of 42 for 48 percent.
The victory lifts the Bluejays' record to 9-9 on the year and 4-4 in the KCAC.
Playing without stars Amanda Barkley and Kristen Welk, the Falcons instead had to rely on Jenna Kokojan.
Averaging 15 and 12 points a game respectively, Barkley and Welk suffered injuries during the week that kept them out of action Saturday night.
Still, Kokojan didn't disappoint, but with the Falcons shooting a frigid 23 percent from the field for the game, her game-high 17 points were quiet.
A swarming Bluejay defense made it hard for the Falcons to get good looks at the hoop.
Tabor lead 24-20 at halftime with Kokojan supplying more than half the Falcons' points on three for four from three-point range.
Hitting 25 percent from the floor the first half, it was the Falcons' five of nine beyond the arc which kept Friends in the game.
But the Bluejays eliminated the Falcons' three point shooting the second half, holding them to 0-for-9 and 28 percent overall.
"We said that number 31 (Kokojan) doesn't put it on the floor real well," Allen said of the Bluejays' second half perimeter defense. "So when she catches, you get a hand right up where she's going to get it into position to shoot and make her put it on floor. That didn't give her many good looks."
A pair of free throws from Stucky keyed an 8-0 run for the Bluejays to widen the gap to 40-27 with 10 minutes left.
Stucky finished with nine points, matching her scoring total by pulling down a game-high nine rebounds to pace the Bluejays' 45-30 edge in the battle for the boards.
Shannon Kroeker and Jill Hein each added seven points while Angela furnished five. Carmen Hein, Hemmert, Trixsi Rodrigues and Amber McKillip all chipped in with four a piece.
Poor shooting denied the Falcons much chance at threatening despite reducing the lead to single three times in the closing 3:42.
"The best thing about the game was we got a lot of people to the basket on the offensive end," Allen said. "We weren't just depending on Casey and LaTasha to get to the basket and score. That's what I liked best about the game."
The Bluejays host the Kansas Wesleyan Coyotes tonight in a 6 p.m. tipoff.
On Saturday, Tabor travels to Sterling for a highly-anticipated rematch with the top-five power Lady Warriors.
In the first meeting between the two Dec. 5 in Hillsboro, the Bluejays pushed the Warriors to the brink before falling 64-61.
Sterling's undefeated season in the KCAC came to a screeching halt Jan. 18 in McPherson with the Bulldogs stunning the Warriors, 83-74.
