[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ HCC SPORTS INFORMATION ]
Photo courtesy of Joel Powers, HCC Sports Information
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The No. 10 Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team evened its record against nationally ranked opponents on Wednesday with a 74-59 Jayhawk Conference victory over No. 21 Butler on Wednesday night.
The Blue Dragons’ conference-leading defense held the No. 3 offense to one of its first performances of the season, holding the Grizzlies to 34.8 percent shooting and 23 points under its scoring average.
Hutchinson improves to 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the Jayhawk Conference. HCC travels to Barton at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday in Great Bend. Butler falls to 8-3 and 6-3.
Sophomore Kirea Rogers posted her second double-double of the season with a season-high 21 points and 10 rebounds. Rogers perfect on a career-high 13 free-throw attempts, which ties for the 10th most free throws by a Blue Dragon in a single game in team history.
Rogers scored 15 points in the opening half as Hutchinson shot 54.5 percent and led 42-33 at halftime.
Redshirt freshman Brenna McClure provided a spark off the bench with a season-high 18 points, knocking down a season’s-best three 3-pointers and going 5 of 5 from the free-throw line. McClure added five assists.
Sophomore Lakin Preisner also came up with some key plays in scoring 12 points with five rebounds and a career-high six steals.
The Blue Dragons shot 47.8 percent overall (22 of 46), hitting 5 of 15 from 3-point range. Hutch out-rebounded Butler 33-27, but had to overcome 21 turnovers.
Defensively, Hutchinson held the Grizzlies to 16 of 46 overall shooting and 2 of 11 from 3-point range. Butler turned the ball over 22 times.
Dakota Vann led the Grizzlies with 14 points. Nakylia Carter had 10 points.
There were a combined 55 fouls and 67 attempted free throws in the game. The Blue Dragons were 25 of 35 and the Grizzlies were 25 of 32.
Hutchinson’s first seven points of the game all came from the free-throw line, six from Rogers. The Dragons didn’t get a field goal until a Preisner layup with 6:49 to play in the period. With the game tied at 6, the Blue Dragons went on a 19-5 run to end the quarter, hitting 7 of 10 shots from the floor to lead 25-11 after the first 10 minutes. Hutch led 15-11 and scored the final 10 points of the quarter in the last 1 minute, 12 seconds of the period to open that lead.
The first 4 minutes, 7 seconds of the second quarter belonged to the Grizzlies. The Dragons didn’t hit a shot for the first 5:59 of the period and when Vann nailed a 3-pointer with 5:53 to play, the Hutch lead had dwindled to 27-24. Four-straight points from Rogers and then back-to-back 3-poiners from McClure and Taylor Stahly were the opening points of what turned out to be a 15-3 Blue Dragon run. Rogers’ layup with 1:48 to go in the quarter gave Hutch a 42-27 lead. Butler scored the final six points of the quarter to cut the Dragon lead to 44-33 at halftime.
The first four points of the third quarter went to Butler, which cut the Dragon lead to 42-37 with 8:35 remaining. Doing most of the damage from the free-throw line, the Dragons scored 8 of the next 10 points to lead 40-39 with 5:01 left. Butler went without a field goal for the final 6:46 of the period and Hutch scored the final six points of the third to lead 60-46 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Blue Dragons’ defense limited Butler to 28.6 percent shooting in the second half. The Dragons pushed their lead to a game-high 17 at 69-52 after a Stahly layup with 5:50 left. Butler answered six-straight points, but McClure’s third 3-pointer of the game with 2:56 left was the final straw in Hutchinson’s seventh-consecutive victory of the season.