Women's Basketball | 11/30/2012 12:15:00 PM
McPherson, Kan. – The 5-4, 1-0 Lady Bulldogs are currently sitting in first place of the KCAC after their 67-53 win over the Swedes on Thursday night. MC will try to stay in the top position on Saturday when they face the 4-6, 1-0 Tabor College Lady Blue Jays; the competition is set for 5:00 p.m. (CT) in the McPherson Sport Center on December 1st.
The contest will be broadcasted live in the McPherson area on 96.7 FM KBBE Mid-Kansas Radio and on the world wide web at Macbulldogs.com with Nick Gosnell on the call with Steve Sell providing the color commentary for the broadcast. You can also watch the game via ihigh.com/macbulldogs. All links to live game statistics, audio or video can be found at Macbulldogs.com
The Lady Bulldogs showed a dominating presence against Bethany on Thursday, taking the lead from the start and not surrendering a single field goal for over eight minutes of play. McPherson was in total control of the contest heading into halftime and led 43-22 when the first period buzzer sounded. Sophomore Ali Brewster had a phenomenal first half as she bucketed 14 points on 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Madison Chambers scored 13 points in the first half, doubling her per game average.
The first part of the second period wasn’t controlled by either team as the lead stayed around 20 points for McPherson; both squads put together mini-runs but neither were able to string together anything substantial. Towards the middle of the half, Bethany pushed their deficit back into the teens but MC reacted quickly and went into a 3-2 zone that controlled the Swede attack. The Bulldogs’ second string played out most of the last 10 minutes in McPherson’s 67-53 victory.
Chambers followed up her 13-point first half with five more in the second for a team-high 18 total points on 8-of-15 shooting. Brewster finished up the game with 17 points, making nearly all her shots from the floor as she went 5-of-7; she also tallied four assists and 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season. MC had four players reach the six-point mark in the win.
Two road KCAC games await McPherson next week as the team will travel to Ottawa, Kansas on Thursday for a 6:00 p.m. (CT) game against the Lady Braves. Saturday the 8th of December sends the Lady Bulldogs to Winfield, Kan., and Southwestern College.
Scouting Tabor
The Blue Jays are coming off a 67-52 win over Sterling College who was receiving votes nationally in the preseason poll. Tabor is 4-6 for the season and 1-0 in conference play.
Against the Lady Warriors, TC shot the ball well from inside the three-point line, hitting 21-of-34 for the game; they weren’t as hot from behind the arc as they were only able to convert on 4-of-22 for an 18.2 percentage. Tabor also struggled from the charity stripe, barely making 50% of their attempts as they went 13-of-25. Both SC and the Lady Jays had a lot of unforced turnovers committing 20 and 19, respectively. TC won the rebounding battle 41-39 in their victory.
Kaitlyn Mary was the top scorer for Tabor as she hit 5-of-11 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free throw line for a season-high 14 points. Becky Bryan came in off the bench and drained all of her shots from the floor, going 4-of-4, and 2-of-4 from the stripe for 11 points. Janelle Rust grabbed nine defensive rebounds in the contest to go with her seven points. An assist machine, Nikki Lewis nearly made it into double figures with nine dimes; she also hit 3-of-11 for seven points.
The Lady Blue Jays have been making 43.4% of their field goal attempts this season, tops in the conference, and are currently averaging 61.7 points per game. Their three point average isn’t as high, it sits at 26.9 percent and they are making 4.6 a contest. Tabor won’t win any rebounding titles as they are only grabbing an average of 27.1 boards per game which is dead last in the KCAC.
TC has the NAIA’s leading assister on their squad as Lewis has racked up 59 assists thus far in the season; she is also fourth in assists per game with 5.9. Rust is scoring 15.1 per game and has bucketed 151 total points which puts her 16th in the NAIA D-II; she also averages 5.5 rebounds per game and has 55 on the year.
Tabor takes on Bethany College at home for their next competition. That KCAC matchup is scheduled for December 6th at 6:00 p.m. (CT)
