SALINA, Kan. — The Lady Bluejays were back in action to play in the first round of the NAIA Tournament against #5 seed Louisiana State University- Shreveport. The ladies put up a fight but unfortunately fell, 59-69.
Head Coach Shawn Reed said, "It was a difficult loss to a very talented LSU-S team. We knew heading into the game that because of LSU-S's size advantage and their overall athleticism we probably needed to shoot 33% from behind the 3-point line, commit less than 15 turnovers, and give up 10 or less offensive rebounds. We failed to achieve any of those benchmarks. Some of those failures fall on us but I have to give credit to LSU-S for their part in making it very difficult on us. That's the tallest and strongest team we have played during my 13 years at Tabor and it presented some challenges for us."
The starting five for the Bluejays included Hendricks, Werth, Beam, McCoy, and Owens.
The first quarter was full of defensive stops until the 8-minute mark when LSU-Shreveport got on the board. It didn't take the ladies long to start heating up but the Pilots never let up, 10-15. Reed said, "In the first quarter, we really struggled shooting the ball and we committed too many turnovers that led to easy baskets for LSU-S. I think our team was a little tight and nervous which is to be expected but it took us longer to work through some of that than it should have in my opinion. We were actually fortunate to only be down five points after the first quarter."
The Bluejays made big defensive stops and tried to pick up their momentum on the other side of the court, 27-34 Pilots. "The second quarter, we started to hit some outside shots and we were much more effective on the offensive end of the court but we really struggled to keep LSU-S off the offensive glass which led to some easy baskets for them. Ja'Neysha (our starting point guard) also went down with a serious ankle injury early in the second quarter which ended up hurting us in the game. J does such a great job of taking care of the basketball and finding her teammates and we missed her contributions the remainder of the game. As well as we played offensively in the second quarter we were still outscored 19-17 in those ten minutes," explained Coach.
After the half, the Lady Jays stepped it up and made it a closer game, 45-46. "I was really proud of how well we played coming out of halftime. The third quarter was our most efficient quarter offensively. We connected on 73% of our shots in that period and more importantly only committed three turnovers. Defensively, LSU-S still shot 63% in that quarter but we forced five turnovers which helped lead to some easy baskets and 18-12 advantage in those ten minutes and we only trailed by one point 45-46 heading into the final quarter of play," Coach Reed said with excitement.
The fourth quarter was the most intense with the score going back and forth. The Pilots pulled away with a few three-point shots and Tabor couldn't find it, 59-69. Coach stated, "Early in the fourth quarter we managed to take a two-point lead (52-50) with just over eight minutes remaining but we were unable to extend it and LSU-S hit two big three-point baskets with about five minutes remaining to extend the lead and we never could get over that hump. We again struggled to shoot the ball in the fourth quarter and we committed four more turnovers in that period which proved costly."
Coach Reed summed up that, "Overall, we had a great season. Anytime you win both the conference regular season and tournament championships it's been a successful season. We would have liked to notch our first win in the NAIA national tournament since 2017 but we are still very pleased that we made our 8th trip to the national tournament in the past 11 seasons."
"This has been a great group to coach and they made some tremendous strides from last year to this year! We are super proud of everything they have accomplished on the court but we are probably more delighted in the strides they have made as people. We see God working in their lives and we believe they are learning and growing through being a part of our program," finished Reed.
This ends the Lady Bluejays season with a record of 27-5 overall.
Be sure to stay up to date with all information regarding Bluejay Athletics by following us on X at @gotaborbluejays, on Instagram and Facebook @taborbluejays, and our official athletic website, taborbluejays.com.
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).
