By McPherson College Athletics
HILLSBORO, Kan. — The McPherson College Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought KCAC battle Wednesday (Feb. 1) to the Tabor College Bluejays in Hillsboro, Kan.
Baskets were hard to come by in the early going for the Bulldogs, falling into an 18-8 hole after the first quarter. The Bluejays pushed the lead to 11 with a 13-2 run with 4:20 remaining before the break.
The Bulldogs showed signs of life when Summer Kirkman took the feed from Madelyn Hankins and finished at the rim to spark an 8-0 burst to close the half.
Kassidy Weaver kept the run going into the second half with a layup on the Bulldogs’ first possession.
Zoe Rust responded with back-to-back baskets for the Bluejays, but a pair of free throws by Dy’mond McElrath gave the Bulldogs the momentum again. Tytiana Haamid joined in with a layup, cutting it to a 35-26 Bluejay advantage.
But the Bulldogs weren’t done as a basket by Arriyonn Phillips, followed by an and-one by Haamid, made it a four-point deficit with 4:26 left in the third, capping a 9-0 run.
From there, the Bulldogs were unable to find enough scoring to close the gap.
Haamid paced the Bulldogs with 12 points while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Phillips rounded out the double-digit scoring with 10 points.
Rust scored a game-high 27 points for the Bluejays, while Kassidy Beam added 11 points.
The Bulldogs return to the Sports Center for Senior Night on Saturday (Feb. 4) as they take on the York College Panthers. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. with Senior Night festivities commencing following the game.
