Tarbert scores 40 to beat Misericordia

Sara Tarbert extended her double-double streak to 29-straight games with a 40-point, 12-rebound performance against Misericordia.

Sara Tarbert continues to find ways to impress. On Friday afternoon she didn’t just extend her double-doubles streak to 29 straight, she did it by scoring 40 points to go with 12 rebounds to lead the Stevenson Mustangs women’s basketball team to an 82-65 victory over Misericordia in the quarterfinals of the ECAC Division III championships.

Stevenson will most on to play host Carnegie Mellon in the semifinals on Saturday.

Tarbert posted her third career 40-point game on 17-for-23 shooting with five made 3-pointers in the game. She now sits fourth all-time in all three NCAA divisions for consecutive double-doubles, tying former Oregon Ducks and current Phoenix Mercury player Jillian Alleyne.

“She’s a senior and it’s coming down to the end for her and I think today she decided today wasn’t going to be her last game,” Stevenson head coach Jackie Boswell said. “Her and both Kameron [Ward] and Niavanni [Grant] as well. … When you put all that together they’re playing for something no matter what kind of minutes they’re playing and Sara took advantage of everything as well.”

But led by Tarbert, Stevenson shot 54.8-percent from the floor, including 50-percent from 3-point range. That hot shooting made up for a loss on the glass and at the foul line. Sophomore Jonyae Curry also had another strong game playing off Tarbert and using the space to slash to the rim. She finished with 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting and was 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.

After an early exchange of points, Stevenson used an 11-2 run to earn a double-digit lead on the Cougars at 14-4 just a little over five minutes into the game.

Stevenson never trailed in the game and that lead was pushed out to 13 points at 25-12 by the end of the first quarter. Then Stevenson started the second quarter with nine-straight points to go ahead by 22 points.

A free throw by Justine Seely followed by a Rachel Carmody 3-pointer ended the Mustangs run, but not their momentum. Stevenson continued to have their way against Misericordia and by halftime, they led 45-25.

The Cougars had a strong push to open the third quarter, but nothing close to what they needed in order to get back into the game and the Mustangs complete put things away early in the fourth quarter with the first seven points of the period to go ahead 69-45. Tarbert scored 13 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Stevenson will take on the top-seeded Carnegie Mellon Tartans for the first time since 2010 when they meet in the semifinals. The Tartans are led by Lisa Murphy, who is also a finalist for the Josten’s Trophy for the Most Outstanding Division III women’s basketball player. Murphy is averaging 24.5 points and 13.3 rebounds per game while shooting 79.7-percent from the floor. The Tartan’s bear Brooklyn in their quarterfinal game, 84-59.

Stevenson will tip off against Carnegie Mellon at 3 pm.

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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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