Second half surge carries Pride to 57-51 NAIA Opening Round win over Tabor

WICHITA, Kan. - In win or go home mode, the Clarke University women's basketball team had to fight through adversity on their way to a 57-51 win over Tabor College in the NAIA Tournament Opening Round on Friday afteroon.

The Pride trailed by four at halftime and by two twice in the fourth quarter as they were able to pull away at the end of the game, finishing the final 4:09 of the game on an 11-3 run. 

"The games we played up to this point have prepared us for this," head coach Courtney Boyd said. "Being down at halftime put us in a spot where we had to make adjustments but the grittiness of this group was on display. They trust each other so if things aren't going well for one person, they really put the trust in each other to get us where we need to be."

The third quarter provided to be a pivotal portion of the game with CU trailing 21-17 at the break as they outscored the Blue Jays 19-10 in the quarter and were able to keep them off the board over the first 3:37 of the period to take a 23-21 lead.

Clarke recovered from a poor shooting first half as they only shot 24.1 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes compared to 40 percent for Tabor as TC went on a 9-3 run to end the final 3:21 of the half from being down 14-12 to leading 21-17.

"We talked about runs at halftime, runs were going to be made, basketball is a game of runs," Boyd said. "That was the biggest things for us, we knew they were going to make shots, we weren't sure if we were going to, we hoped we would so getting a few stops and running out in transition is where we want to be. The biggest thing about the third quarter was just coming out with a different mindset about adjusting to everything and staying disciplined."

Senior center Emma Kelchen led the game with 19 points on 9-of-15 (60%) shooting from the field as she added six rebounds and three blocked shots. Rebounding was key for Clarke as they finished the game outrebounding the Blue Jays 44-22 as the halftime deficit was 24-12 and CU finished with 19 offensive rebounds.

"Especially in the post, this is one of the most physical games we played all season," Kelchen said. "So just knowing what's going to be called and what's not going to be called and playing through it, you have to do what you have to do."

Nicole McDermott was a big part of the rebounding effort, finishing with a game-high 11 rebounds for an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double. McDermott snagged the biggest rebound of the contest as she grabbed an offensive board off of a Tina Ubl miss to get fouled, hit her free throws to put the Pride up 55-51 with 23 seconds remaining in the game.

Ubl finished with 10 points, six rebounds, and three assists as the starters played heavy minutes with Giana Michels providing 13 points and eight rebounds in 32 minutes and Skylar Culbertson finished with six rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

Clarke women's basketball will remain in Wichita, Kan. to face the winner of No. 6 Mid-America Christian University and No. 11 Briar Cliff University on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. CT tip.