Tabor ousts Coyote women in tournament quarterfinals
By: David Toelle, KWU Sports Information

HILLSBORO – In a situation almost too similar to the earlier meeting of Kansas Wesleyan and Tabor inside Tabor College’s Gym on January 24, KWU rallied from a big deficit in the second half only to fall just short. The Bluejays blew a 12-point lead but held on for a 52-47 win over the Coyotes.

The loss knocks Kansas Wesleyan out of the KCAC Post-Season Tournament and ends the Coyotes’ season at 12-17 overall. Tabor advances to Saturday afternoon’s semifinal match-up with top seeded Sterling, who beat Ottawa 64-47.

Tabor jumped out to a 4-0 lead to open the game on a bucket from Stacie Herman with 17:39 to go in the first half. Wesleyan quickly got back on the offensive attack, as Emily Luckeroth scored the first seven points for the Coyotes, giving them a brief 7-6 lead with 14:58 to go on a pair of free throws.

Herman answered Wesleyan’s charge with the first of her three triples on the night to give Tabor a 9-7 lead with 14:31 left. A bucket from Jordon Crosson gave the Bluejays another four-point cushion with 13:16 left.

Wesleyan could never get closer than two points, twice, the last time coming at 13-11 with 10:46 left, before Tabor would open things up. Eight unanswered points from the Bluejays, including five from Herman and a three from Joanna Pyle gave Tabor its first double digit lead of the night at 21-11 with 7:18 left.

The Coyotes did not throw in the towel just yet. Following a timeout, Charressa Gray and Tierra Baldwin combined for six straight points as the Coyotes cut Tabor’s lead to four, 21-17, with 5:54 to go in the half.

Gray would again get Wesleyan within four with 3:49 to go in the first, before the Bluejays would score the final seven points of the half to take a 32-21 lead into the break.

Wesleyan scored the first three points of the second half, while switching their defensive mode to a 3-2 zone which seemed to pay off.

“We were tired of trying to fight through their moving screens,” KWU coach Gordon Reimer said. “We figured a zone would help that and it did.”

It took over four minutes for Tabor to score in the second half, as three of their first five possessions ended in turnovers and the other two on errant shots.

Tasia Johnson put the Bluejays back up by ten at 34-24 with 14:55 left, but the Coyotes cut things back to six after a bucket from Luckeroth with 13:57 left.

That’s when Tabor made a game changing run. Another Herman three on a third chance started a 7-1 run from the Bluejays giving them their biggest lead of the night at 12, 43-31 with 10:45 left.

Wesleyan would slowly work its way back into the game, using Kaylaen Dittmer’s bucket with 10:25 left to ignite a 16-4 run for the Coyotes, tying things up at 47-all with 1:40 left.

Crosson gave Tabor a one-point lead with 1:16 to go, but Wesleyan would give the ball back to the Bluejays on a shot clock violation when Baldwin’s off balance shot missed the goal with 45 seconds left.

Herman gave Tabor a three point lead with 15 seconds left on a shot that just beat the shot clock buzzer, and Gray’s three with 3.9 seconds left was short and gave possession to Tabor.

On the inbound play, Herman appeared to have lost the ball out of bounds, but the officials called a foul and she sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 2.3 seconds left giving Tabor the 52-47 win.

Four Coyotes hit double figures led by Baldwin with 12, while Luckeroth had 11 and Dittmer and LaCole Wilkinson each added 10. The Coyotes struggled to find their shot from the field, going just 15-of-49 in the game for 30.8 percent. Baldwin led Wesleyan with eight rebounds and Dittmer had three assists.

Herman led all scorers for Tabor with 19. Tabor struggled in the second half with Wesleyan zone, shooting 21-of-46 for the game (45.7 percent) after sizzling the nets in the first half for 53.8 percent on 14-of-26 shooting.

Wesleyan finishes the season at 12-17 overall, while Tabor faces no.16 ranked Sterling in Saturday’s semifinal match-up at 2 p.m., from the Gleason Center in Sterling.

-- KWU SI --