SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Tabor College women’s basketball team upset No. 2 seeded Marian University (Ind.), 53-50 in the first game of the NAIA Div. II National Championship Tournament at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa Wed. morning.
With the game tied 49-49, senior forward Tonisha Dean hit the game winning shot with 26.8 seconds remaining in regulation to put the Bluejays up for good. Dean finished with a team high 15 points and nine rebounds. The Bluejays (20-12) will play Southern Oregon University (27-4) at 8:30 a.m. Fri. in the second round.
“We are excited to advance and continue representing Tabor and the KCAC,” Tabor’s head coach, Shawn Reed, said. “It’s nice to get to the tournament and win a game. Hopefully this will provide us with some confidence as we move forward.”
Reed said Dean’s poise at the end of the game made the difference.
“Tonisha’s shot was huge,” Reed added. “She drives to her right most of the time so for her to drive left and finish was big.”
With a tipoff set for 8:30 a.m. this morning, both teams got off to a slow start. The largest lead of the first half for the Bluejays came after a bucket by sophomore forward Sam Short to put them up 17-7. A rally by Marian late in the half put the Knights down by one, 26-25 at halftime.
Coming out of the locker room, the Bluejays never trailed in the second half. With 15:16 to go, junior guard Taylor Hurd scored her first basket of the day, a three-pointer, putting Tabor up by eight, 39-31. On the very next offensive possession, Hurd hit another shot and extended Tabor’s lead 41-31. Hurd finished the game with only those five points, but it was enough to give the Bluejays momentum.
The largest lead of the half came with 10:13 to go, when Dean scored in the paint to extend the lead to 12, 45-33. But the Knights would not go away without a fight. Marian junior Lakan Hasser-Smith scored back-to-back buckets with less than 10 minutes to play, cutting the lead to eight, 45-37.
The score tightened up even more with 3:58 to go when Marian sophomore guard Jenna Sullivan knocked down a key three to give the Knights some hope, trailing by two.
After a made free throw by Marian sophomore guard Jessica Almeida with 45 seconds remaining, the game was tied at 49-all. On Tabor’s next trip down the floor, Dean would seal the victory.
The only other Bluejay in scoring double figures was sophomore Tena Loewen, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Kaleigh Troxell contributed nine points and five rebounds.
Marian senior guard Kaylee Walters led all scorers with 16 points.
A year ago, Tabor lost a 63-62 heartbreaker to Northwestern College in the opening round of the same tournament. Reed said the upperclassmen remembered the feeling.
“I thought the fact that we had an experienced group of players from last season return that played in a close game against Northwestern College really helped,” Reed said. “We didn’t panic and were able to make some plays at both ends of the court.”
On Feb. 26, Tabor lost to University of St. Mary 57-54 in the KCAC Quarterfinals. Dean said that loss was motivation to win today.
“We were upset in our tournament so we needed to practice more and prove we were worth playing in the NAIA Championships,” Dean said.