LINDSBORG, Kan. The Lady Bluejays are on a hot streak in the KCAC just beating McPherson College on January 10th. The team went up the road to face the Bethany College Swedes. A scrappy game led the Swedes to upset the Bluejays, 61-66.
The starters for the Jays included senior guard Ja'Neysha Hendricks, junior guards Teegan Werth and Kassidy Beam, senior guard/forward Madie McCoy, and senior forward Alyvia Owens.
Head Coach Shawn Reed had this to say about the game, "It was a disappointing loss. We had a really bad stretch for about 4 minutes in the second quarter and it turned the game and created a deficit we simply could not overcome. I give Bethany a lot of credit. I thought they were tougher and more physical than us and it took us too long to respond to that type of intensity. I was proud that we battled back in the second half but that's a tough lesson for our team to learn."
"Offensively, we had some advantages inside and Alyvia really took advantage of those opportunities. I thought she did a great job for us. Kass and Teegan made some important three-point shots for us. We weren't as efficient as we could have been because Bethany's pressure really bothered us at times. We will continue to work through that challenge and see if we can gain some confidence in dealing with some of those challenges," said Coach.
In the first quarter, the Bluejays took a lead making the game look promising against the Swedes, 17-12. In the second quarter, Bethany got their momentum to make Tabor scramble, 30-42.
In the third quarter, the Bluejays would get back on track to hold Bethany to only 11 points and score 21 to make the score closer, 51-53. The fourth quarter for the Jays was critical to play hard defense and make crucial shots. Unfortunately, the Swedes had the upper hand and took advantage of the Bluejays, beating them 61-66.
Coach Reed said, "We also need to make our free throws. We shot 40% in one half and 90% in another. Honestly, that is ridiculous. We work on free throws every day. It's a mental hurdle for us and we just need to step up to the line and shoot with confidence. We have been saying all year that if we couldn't correct that it would catch up with us and it finally did."
"Defensively, I really liked what we did most of the game except for the second quarter. Bethany made all four of their three-point baskets in a short stretch when we simply were not disciplined with our coverages and you have to credit them for taking advantage. There were times in the first half and early in the third quarter when some of our coverages were not correct and we got those fixed but the damage was already done. I thought we did a better job rebounding but there is still room for significant improvement in that area," continued Reed.
"We have no time to feel sorry for ourselves. Ottawa is a very good ball team and they are going to pressure us and try to create havoc. We will see if we can regroup on Monday and start preparing for our game on Wednesday. Part of regrouping needs to be taking a good hard look at ourselves and seeing what each of us can do better and that starts with me. Hopefully, we can dig deep, embrace adversity, and fight to get better," finished Coach Reed.
This game brings their conference record to 9-1 and overall 12-4. The Lady Jays play Ottawa University on Wednesday, Jan. 17th at 6 p.m. in Hillsboro, Kansas.
Tabor College is a Christ-centered institution located in Hillsboro, Kansas. The Bluejays are members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and compete in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).
