WICHITA, Kan. After a tough loss against Division II Pittsburgh State University, the Bluejays went down to Friends University to get conference play going again. A nail-biting game ended up in the books as a win for the Tabor Bluejays, 58-24.
The starting players for the Lady 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 said, "Although we were very pleased to earn an important road win against one of the top teams in our conference, we were not pleased with how we played the final six minutes of the game. We had opportunities to score in the fourth quarter; missed layups, and wide-open three-point shots, and made several poor passes that could have led to easier opportunities. On top of that, we struggled at the free-throw. Those miscues coupled with some very good execution by Friends led to the game getting tight and honestly, we were fortunate to win."
"Defensively, I thought it was a mixed bag. We struggled to guard Garner and Jackson but we did a tremendous job of forcing turnovers and we guarded the three-point line well in the second half. Friends had 12 offensive rebounds which led to 19 second-chance points and obviously, that was another area that really hurt us. We held them to 13 points each of the first three quarters which was positive but we struggled some in the fourth quarter," continued Reed.
The first quarter was neck and neck for both teams. Big free throws for Tabor made the score 14-13. Good defense in the second quarter got the Bluejays more of a lead against the Falcons, 30-26. After the half, the Lady Jays came out in the third quarter with more energy and ran up the score, 45-38. The Falcons didn't let up in the fourth quarter giving the Bluejays a run for their money. The ladies ended up winning the game, 58-54.
Coach Reed explained, "Offensively we really struggled to make shots. I thought we had good looks at the basket and I liked our shot selection but we simply did not connect on enough of those opportunities. Maybe we were sped up a little or maybe we just had an off night but for whatever reason the large majority of our shots were not falling, including free-throws. We always talk about winning games when our shots aren't falling and we were able to accomplish that tonight because of the turnover differential."
"It doesn't get any easier for us as we head to Kansas Wesleyan on Saturday. KWU has a very good ball club with a lot of different weapons and it is a tough environment to play in. We will need to execute better at both ends of the court if we want to have success against a well-coached and talented team," stated Coach Reed.
This KCAC game brings the Bluejays record to 7-0 and overall 10-3. They play on Saturday, Jan. 6th in Salina, Kansas at 5 p.m.
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).
