Story by Jake Knabel, NAIA Assistant Media Coordinator

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – (Box Score) A national quarterfinalist in 2016, fifth-seeded Tabor (Kan.) still has that tournament magic. The balanced Bluejays led nearly the entire way while bouncing fourth-seeded Indiana Tech from the 2017 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships in a first-round matchup decided by a final score of 67-58.

Head coach Shawn Reed’s Tabor squad, winner of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament, has advanced to the second round, where it will take on either top-seeded St. Francis (Ill.) (31-1) or eighth-seeded UC Merced (Calif.) (17-11) at 12 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, the Warriors end their season with a 26-7 overall mark.

Indiana Tech trailed by just two (49-47) early in the fourth quarter before the Bluejays went on a methodically 11-3 run in a relatively calmly paced contest. Tabor used balance (five players with eight or more points) and a stingy defensive effort (41.2 percent Warrior shooting) to claim the program’s eighth national tournament triumph all-time. Indiana Tech’s one-two scoring punch of Keanna Gary and Haley Cook was limited to 27 combined points (eight below their collective season average).

The Bluejays (27-6) placed three players in double figures in scoring: Morgan Ediger (15), Jurnee Reid (13) and Kaleigh Troxell (10). Troxell put home a couple of key buckets in the latter stages of the fourth quarter to help Tabor pull away. Tabor shot 47.1 percent (24-for-51) from the field and outrebounded the Warriors, 36-27.

Gary (15), Taylor Seiss (14) and Cook (12) put up double-digit point totals for Indiana Tech, which is now 3-5 all-time at the national championships.

The Bluejays defeated Hastings (Neb.) and Asbury (Ky.) during their 2016 run to the quarterfinals. They also reached that same round in 2015 when they were a No. 7 seed