[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ HCC SPORTS INFORMATION ]
LAS VEGAS — The No. 8-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team held Utah State University-Eastern without a field goal for more than 12 1/2 minutes to blow their
| WEDNESDAY IN LAS VEGAS | |
| No. 8 Hutchinson (11-1) vs. Snow College (5-4) When: Wednesday, December 28, 2016 Where: Doolittle Rec Center, Las Vegas, NV Game time: 5 p.m. CT (3 p.m. in Las Vegas) Video: Blue Dragon Sports Network, 4:50 CT airtime Twitter: @bluedragonsport |
College of Southern Nevada Holiday Classic matchup open on Tuesday at the Doolittle Recreation Center.
Five players scored in double figures and the Blue Dragon bench played huge as Hutchinson routed USU-Eastern 87-45 for their ninth-consecutive victory.
Hutchinson improves to 11-1 overall and will play Snow College at 5 p.m. on Wednesday (3 p.m. Las Vegas time). Snow loss to Central Arizona 74-66 on Tuesday.
The Blue Dragons led just 6-4 with 5:55 to play in the first quarter after a Kaitlin Toluono 3-pointer. That was Eastern’s last field goal for the next 12 minutes, 41 seconds. The Blue Dragons went on a 24-2 run over that span to break the game open.
Hutchinson’s defense held Eastern to 1 of 12 shooting in the first half in opening a 14-6 lead. The Dragons limited the Eagles to 3 of 13 shooting in a 27-8 second quarter. The Blue Dragons forced 12 first-half turnovers.
Sophomore Taylor Stahly scored a game-high 14 points to lead five Blue Dragons in double figures. Freshman Alicia Brown had 13 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Bride Kennedy-Hopoate finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Blue Dragon bench played huge in outscoring Eastern 41-17. Sophomore Kyla Williams had 12 points and five rebounds. Freshman Kayla Barber hit her first two career 3-pointers and finished with a season-high 12 points. Inja Butina came off the bench to score nine.
The Blue Dragons finished 27 of 61 overall (44.3 percent), knocking down 6 of 20 from 3-point range and 27 of 35 from the free-throw line. The Dragons out-rebounded Eastern 41-37.
The Eagles were limited to 25.5 percent shooting for the game and committed 24 turnovers. Eastern was 14 of 55 overall, 3 of 16 from 3-point range and 14 of 25 from the free-throw line.
Toluono had 14 points to lead the Eagles.
There were only a combined three field goals in the opening quarter as both teams did most of their scoring from the free-throw line. Hutch was 2 of 13 from the field, but 10 of 13 from the free-throw line in the opening 10 minutes. Eastern was 1 of 12 from the floor and only 3 of 8 from the foul line as Hutch led 14-6 after one quarter.
Sophomore Shayla DeGarmo provided a second-quarter spark off the bench for the Blue Dragons. She hit a long 2-point goal and then splashed a 3-pointer on Hutch’s first two possessions of the second quarter to open a 19-6 lead with 8:57 to play in the period. The Blue Dragons scored the first 16 points of the second quarter and led 30-6 after a Lakin Preisner jumper with 4:20 remaining in the period. The Blue Dragons shot 11 of 16 in the second quarter and built a 41-14 lead at halftime.
Leading 55-20 in the third quarter, the Blue Dragons closed the period on a 13-5 run to lead 68-25. USU-Eastern outscored Hutchinson 20-19 in the fourth quarter.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 2-0 all-time against USU-Eastern all time. … The Blue Dragons improved to 3-0 in the CSN Holiday Classic. … Hutch’s largest lead of the game was 50 at 75-25. … Brenna McClure and Shayla DeGarmo had five assists each to lead HCC, which had 17 assists on 27 makes. … The Blue Dragons held USU-Eastern to single digits in the first and second quarters. That’s the 10th and 11th time this season to do so.