Southwestern College Collegian

Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Sports

Kenna Corley/Collegian photographerJordan Jarnagin, sophomore guard, drives past an Ottawa defender at a home game on Feb. 4. The women are ranked second in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference with a record of 12-4, and will need to win at least one of their two remaining regular season games to seal the position going into the KCAC tournament next week. [Click to enlarge]

End of season play is a nerve-wracking time for just about any team in any sport. Pressure can overwhelm some teams, while it seems to motivate others. The Southwestern College women are hoping for the latter to top off their regular season. Heading into the final week of play, the women look to hold onto their second-place status in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference rankings with a 14-4 record. They'll need to win one of the two games this week to completely secure their status and move into the KCAC tournament on Monday with a second-place seed. The Lady Builders will host two games this week, first taking on McPherson College at 6 p.m. tomorrow. McPherson is currently tied for third in the KCAC, two games behind Southwestern. On Saturday, the women will play the University of Saint Mary on Senior Night. The Spires are ranked last, and will be the last game before heading into the KCAC tournament. "Toward the end of the season it's really crunch time," said Tylar Hartfield, freshman forward. "The level of mental toughness gets stronger and the teams are more focused on winning. They want to get to the tournament and get to the national championships." The women went on the road last week twice, first on Thursday to Tabor and on Saturday to Bethany. They ended up losing to the Lady Bluejays on Thursday 60-58. "It was a close game," said Dave Denly, head women's basketball coach. "We weren't playing with the same intensity, emotion, and fire that we'd been playing with so we got beat." After getting beat, they came back on Saturday with motivation to win. Even though Bethany made 16 three-point shots, the Lady Builders won the game 87-75. "We kept scoring. We did a good job of getting points on the board and were aggressive offensively," Denly said. Hartfield, who had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the game, said, "We knew we had to play hard. We knew we had to stay focused to take care of our business." With the conference and national tournaments coming up soon, the women are trying hard to focus on the few regular season games they have left and not let the pressure of the end of the season hinder their play. Tasyana Gray, junior guard, said, "At the beginning of the season it's not as big of a deal if you win or lose. Now you have to win because everybody's fighting when it comes to tournament time. Even when coaches say there's no pressure there really is. Everybody knows they need to win." Paige Carswell is a freshman majoring in communication. You may e-mail her at paige.carswell@sckans.edu. 2/14/08 Southwestern College (60) Hartfield 5-11 2-4 12, Beal 7-14 0-0 19, Maxwell 0-1 0-0 0, Jarnagin 0-4 1-2 1, Colclasure 1-4 2-4 4, Gandy 2-4 1-2 5, Larsen 0-1 0-0 0, Gray 3-4 0-0 8, Wilson 1-6 7-10 9, Harvey 1-3 0-0 2, Silvers 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 20-54 13-22 60. Tabor College (68) Herman 7-10 3-5 20, Watson 0-4 2-2 2, Pyle 3-9 5-5 12, Fast 1-2 0-0 2, Johnson 3-3 0-0 6, Malone 1-2 0-0 2, Silvas 1-1 0-0 2, Roth 1-4 6-8 8, Crosson 5-5 0-0 10, Gaskell 2-6 0-0 4, Totals 24-46 16-20 68. Southwestern 26 34_60 Tabor 30 38_68 3-Point Goals - Southwestern 7-22 (Beal 5-11, Maxwell 0-1, Jarnagin 0-4, Colclasure 0-3, Gray 2-2, Harvey 0-1), Tabor 4-12 (Herman 3-5, Watson 0-2, Pyle 1-5). Fouled Out - Tabor (Crosson). Rebounds - Southwestern 26 (Hartfield 8), Tabor 22 (Roth, Crosson 5). Assists - Southwestern 11 (Colclasure 3), Tabor 18 (Herman 8). Total Fouls - Southwestern 13, Tabor 14. Technical - None. A - 200. 2/16/08 Southwestern College (87) Hartfield 8-10 1-5 17, Beal 3-9 8-10 16, Colclasure 3-4 0-0 9, Wilson 6-9 7-10 19, Harvey 1-3 0-0 2, Maxwell 1-3 0-0 3, Jarnagin 2-4 0-0 5, Gandy 3-4 1-2 7, Gray 1-6 1-2 4, Silvers 2-2 1-2 5, Totals 30-54 19-31 87. Bethany College (75) Whitman 6-11 1-2 14, Pihl 5-9 1-2 15, Gaylord 0-3 0-0 0, Stieben 6-11 2-2 20, Wade 8-16 1-2 22, Wendland 0-1 0-0 0, Tommerup 0-2 0-1 0, Dunham 2-4 0-0 4, Totals 27-57 5-9 75. Southwestern 47 40_87 Bethany 39 36_75 3-Point Goals - Southwestern 8-19 (Beal 2-6, Colclasure 3-4, Harvey 0-1, Maxwell 1-3, Jarnagin 1-2, Gray 1-3), Bethany 16-25 (Whitman 1-2, Pihl 4-7, Stieben 6-7, Wade 5-8, Wendland 0-1). Fouled Out - None. Rebounds - Southwestern 38 (Hartfield 12), Bethany 28 (Wade 8). Assists - Southwestern 19 (Beal, Wilson 6), Bethany 11 (Pihl 4). Total Fouls - Southwestern 13, Bethany 21. Technical - Bethany (Coach). A - 200.

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