by Steve Carpenter-HCC Sports Information
GARDEN CITY – For the sixth consecutive season, the Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team walked off the court after the final regular-season game as Jayhawk Conference champions.
The No. 14-ranked Blue Dragons, on Monday night, overcame a slow offensive start to defeat Garden City 62-52 at the Perryman Athletic Complex in a battle for the 2016 conference championship. Had Garden City won, the Blue Dragons and Broncbusters would have shared the conference title.
Finishing the regular season 26-3, Hutchinson overcame a tumultuous summer to win the program’s ninth conference championship with a 16-3 record. Hutch also won conference titles in 1977, 1978, 1980, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. A conference ruling last summer forced the Dragons to vacate their 2015 title.
Just 10 days ago, a two-game losing streak put the Blue Dragons one game behind Garden City with to play. HCC closed out with a three-game win streak and overtook Garden City, which lost three in a row to end the regular season.
Hutchinson earns the No. 1overall seed for the Region VI Tournament, which opens on Thursday at home sites. The Blue Dragons have a bye in the opening round and will next play at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1 against an opponent to be determined. Pairings will be released on Wednesday.
The Blue Dragons missed 9 of their first 10 shots of the game and posted season lows of 16 total field goals, 30.8 percent field goal shooting and nine assists. But the Blue Dragons tied a season low with only six turnovers and limited the Broncbusters to 31.3 percent from the field.
Hutchinson led just 42-41 with 5:09 remaining in the game. After Kirea Rogers hit 1 of 2 free throws, Inja Butina got a steal and layup to go up 45-41 with 4:10 to play. Taylor Stahly hit the second of a two-shot foul with 3:44 to go for a 46-41 Dragon lead. That started a streak of 17 consecutive free throws by the Blue Dragons to close out the game. HCC didn’t have a field goal for the final 4 minutes, 10 seconds.
Rogers had her second-straight double-double and eighth of the season with 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Blue Dragons.
Butina finished with 17 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Butina’s fifth assist tied Christasia Walter for the Blue Dragons’ single-season assist record with 207 assists for the season.
Taylor Stahly and Lakin Preisner had eight points each.
HCC hit just 16 of 52 total shots, going 3 of 14 from 3-point range and a season-high 27 of 36 from the free-throw line. The Blue Dragons had a 41-36 rebounding advantage.
HCC held the conference’s leading scorer, Shala Dobbins to 4 of 16 shooting from the field. She finished with 22 points, going 14 of 16 from the free-throw line.
Garden City was 15 of 48 shooting, going 3 of 12 from 3-point range and 19 of 25 from the free-throw line.
The game had 15 lead changes, four coming in the first quarter. Butina drilled a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left to give Hutch a 10-8 lead after the Dragons hit only 4 of 16 shots in the opening period.
Stahly’s lone 3-pointer with 5:26 to play in the second quarter gave HCC a 16-15 lead. Rogers had six points in the second quarter. Her jumper with 3 seconds to play gave Hutch a 24-20 halftime lead.
Garden City scored the first five points of the third quarter to start a run of eight lead changes in the third quarter. Tied at 31, Butina hit two free throws with 2:22 to play in the third quarter. After a defensive stop, Shayla DeGarmo hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game with a transition 3-pointer with 1:31 to play in the third for a 35-31 lead. HCC led 36-33 after three quarters.
Garden City cut the HCC lead to 1 three times in the fourth quarter. The Blue Dragons went six-straight trips to the foul line hitting just 1 of 2 free throws before closing the game with 17 consecutive made free throws. HCC went 20 of 26 from the free-throw line.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are 64-18 all-time vs. Garden City, including 27-13 in Garden City. … Two blocked shots by Kirea Rogers moved her to No. 2 on the freshman list and No. 8 on the single-season list with 39 blocks, which ties Blessing Uba (2011). … HCC is 8-2 in road games this season. … The 26 wins tie for ninth most in program history.
(HCC Sports Information)