Tarbert sets DIII double-double mark, but in MACC semis loss

It was a bittersweet moment for the Stevenson Mustangs women’s basketball team and their star forward Sara Tarbert. The sure-fire All-American set the NCAA Division III women’s basketball record with her 27th-consecutive double-double – a streak dating back to last season – as she scored 21 points with 15 rebounds, but the third-seeded Mustangs’ ousted in the semifinals of the MAC Commonwealth tournament as they fell to the second-seeded Messiah Falcons, 78-55.

Stevenson was riding a four-game winning streak into the postseason. They now stand at 17-9. They only hope at a national postseason lies in the potential at an ECAC berth. The 16-team field will be announced on Monday, February 27 after the NCAA Tournament is selected.

The Falcons got out to as hot of a start as Stevenson’s was slow. Stevenson trailed 21-9 after one quarter. Tarbert was shot out and held to only one shot in the period but she did have six rebounds that helped her one her was to her record-setting double-double.

Tarbert was able to get going in the second quarter and actually completed her double-double before halftime as she scored 14 points with another five rebounds. Stevenson for 46.7-percent from the floor in the second quarter and trimmed their deficit to five points with a halftime score of 35-30.

Stevenson then tied the game just two and a half minutes into the second half and took a lead not too long later as Tarbert completed a three-point play and sparked a 14-4 Stevenson run to put them ahead 44-39.

But Stevenson couldn’t stay hot. Messiah tightened up defensively and shut the Mustangs out for a few seconds shy of the final four minutes of the period. Messiah took advantage with nine-straight points to take a 48-44 lead back by the quarter’s end.

That run continued on to become 15-straight and even further to be a 23-2 Messiah run as they took a double-digit lead and led 62-46 with 5:10 remaining in the game.

Stevenson shot only 2-for-11 from the floor in the fourth quarter. Messiah was red-hot going 11-for-14. Tarbert was held to only two points coming off a pair of free throws in the fourth quarter and Stevenson was outscored 30-11 on their way to the double-digit loss.

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Corey Johns

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You could say Corey was born to become a sports journalist. His father won a national championship coaching college soccer. His mother is a baseball fanatic who hasn't missed seeing an Orioles game since 1983 (literally, sometimes it's annoying). His great uncle was a big-time boxing promoter and his maternal grandfather was once a department head at the Baltimore Sun. Basically, sports and journalism run through his blood. He played just about every little league sports there was when he was a kid and was a multi-sport athlete in high school; even playing in the first-ever high school sanction Rugby game in the country. Eventually he retired from sports as an undefeated Maryland state Rugby champion as a high school senior. Perhaps lack of athletic talent has more to do with the retirement, but he will tell you that it more had to do with a great desire to jump right into media. Upon his graduation from University of Maryland, Baltimore County as a triple communications major, Corey started the So Much Sports network and has continued to grow his websites and continues to work to make them premier sports media outlets.

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