HILLSBORO, Kan. – Southwestern College's women's basketball team was back in action on Thursday evening in a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) battle against the Tabor College Bluejays. A tough opponent, who had yet to drop a single conference bout to this point in the campaign, was a bit too much to handle for the Moundbuilders in a 74-33 loss on the road.

From the jump, Southwestern was struggling to find open shots, hitting on just 3-of-12 from the field. The Bluejays connected on six shots, while missing seven over the course of the opening act, as they jumped out to a 16-6 advantage after one period of play.

The following quarter was a masterful showing from Tabor, as they made nine baskets on 14 attempts over the course of 10 minutes. It helped that four of those makes were from three-point range, as well. Southwestern was 3-of-10 in the frame, but did hit two of their three shots from deep in the second. Christy Wiebe was responsible for both of those three pointers. Unfortunately, with as strong of a period as the Bluejays put forth, a 24-11 score in the stanza made it a 40-17 advantage for the home squad with 20 minutes left to play.

After responding to the locker room talk at the half, the Builders put together an improved third frame, hitting on six out of their 15 attempts in the period. They also made both three-point tries in the quarter, while scoring a total of 14 points. Tabor, tough, was even more efficient. They sunk more than half of their shots in the third, while scoring 16 points with three made shots from downtown. A 56-31 score entering the fourth frame would signal a significant deficit for the Builders to try to make up.

The final stanza of this battle was not one to remember for the Moundbuilders, as they only hit one shot in the fourth. The Bluejays combatted that with a 7-of-14 clip to earn a 17-2 final quarter of play. The final of this battle would stand at 74-33 after 40 minutes.

Wiebe led the way for the Lady Builders in scoring, tallying 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting. She was good from long range in this battle, having made two of her three heaves from beyond the arc. Bryanna Williams was the other Moundbuilder with a double-digit point output, as she provided 10 points on 4-of-9 from the floor, including a 2-of-4 clip from deep.

The team had five assists in the bout, as Denisha Anderson was the lone SC player with multiple dimes, racking up a pair. D'Shonda Hunt, Haven Matthews and Madi Jones were responsible for the remaining three assists.

Wiebe was the squad's top rebounder, as well, bringing in seven boards in the game. Jones followed her on the list with six rebounds for SC, and Hunt and Matthews each contributed three backboards to the team's efforts.

Macey Pond and Wiebe were able to swipe the ball twice each from the Bluejays, and made up two-thirds of Southwestern's steal numbers.

The Builders (3-8, 0-5 KCAC) will now look forward to this Saturday's home battle against the York University Panthers inside Stewart Field House, hoping to grab their first KCAC win of the 2022-23 campaign. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and fans are encouraged to wear holiday sweaters for the holiday themed game. The squad will then have a week-long break to prepare for another home battle the following Saturday against McPherson College at 1 p.m. in Winfield.

--buildersports.com--