Sterling College

The Sterling College women's basketball team needed overtime to defeat Tabor College in Saturday's semifinal of the KCAC tournament held at the Gleason Center. The last time the Blue Jays came to Sterling they went into triple overtime as Sterling prevailed.

Sterling hit all of their six free throws in the last 50 seconds of OT to push past Tabor and put themselves in the Championship game of the KCAC tournament on Monday night against Southwestern College. Sterling will be in search of there seventh KCAC Tournament Championship.

By the looks of the first four minutes of the game it looked like Sterling was going to walk right over Tabor starting the game off on a 7-0 run. Tabor responded with their own 7-1 run keeping the game close. Sterling and Tabor were tied at the intermission 22-22. Both teams struggled shooting from the field Sterling shot 25% while the Blue Jays shot 30%.

In the second half of action, the Lady Warriors built there lead to five with 14:04 left to play when Tabor's Stacie Herman hit a three pointer to bring the game within two points. Tabor tied the game at thirty-three just two minutes later when Herman's runner in the lane fell in as she was fouled by SC's Jannica Schultze. Herman hit the free throw and gave Tabor their first lead of the second half. After Herman's three-point play, both teams were more efficient offensively as there were five ties and 10 lead changes the rest of the way. Neither team led by more than four until the closing seconds. Ashley Kraft and Herman each hit two free throws in the final twenty-five seconds to force overtime.

In the extra period Sterling never trailed as they took a 57-55 lead on Hilary Stucky's 16-foot jumper with 1:45 left. On Sterling's next possession, Kraft was fouled as she drove to the basket with the shot clock about to expire. She hit both free throws for a 59-55 lead with 50 seconds left. Tabor pulled within 59-57 after two Herman free throws with 33 seconds left. The Blue Jays fouled Sterling guard Erin Thiessen with 16 seconds, but she hit both free throws to secure the win.

Junior Ashley Kraft once again Sterling in scoring with 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Fellow junior Hillary Stucky also had a monster night as she scored eighteen points and brought down eleven rebounds. Herman led Tabor with points.

Sterling (22-7) will host Southwestern (23-7) on Saturday night at the Gleason Center at 7:00 PM. The last time the Moundbuilders came to Sterling they handed the Lady Warriors their only home conference loss of the season. Both teams will advance to the NAIA Div. II Women's National Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa next week.