PARK CITY – The second-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team survived another rough-shooting outing in the Region VI Tournament on Monday at Hartman Arena, but will play for the program’s third regional championship on Tuesday night.
HCC survived 35 percent overall shooting and 20 turnovers to defeat Cloud County 61-55 in the Region VI semifinals. The Lady Dragons (32-0) will now play No. 20 Independence (27-5) for the right to represent Kansas at the NJCAA Women’s Tournament which begins on March 20 in Salina. It will be the sixth-straight season that Hutchinson and Independence will meet in the postseason.
With the victory, HCC set yet another team record with its 32nd win of the season. The Lady Dragons completed a three-game season sweep of Cloud County with another stellar defensive effort, holding the Thunderbirds to just 29.4 percent shooting and forcing 23 turnovers in a physical battle.
HCC hit 7 of its first 14 shots in jumping out to a 22-9 lead with 6:51 to play in the opening half. The shots stopped falling as the Lady Dragons closed the half missing 16 of 21 shots, but the T-Birds closed the gap to only 26-18 by halftime
Jackie Patterson who was 0 of 6 in the first half, started a 13-point second half with a 3-pointer from the left wing during an initial 6-0 run to open the second half and build a 32-18 lead with 18:35 to play. HCC continued to hold off T-Bird charges and led 49-38 with 7:06 to play. Cloud County started getting to the free-throw line with regularity, but the Lady Dragons never let the game get in a one-possession contest.
“We didn’t wilt at all,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “I wish we would have had more confidence down the stretch when some kids short-armed some shots. But that happens. There was a lot riding on this game.”
“It was exactly what we expected,” sophomore forward Chelsea Small said. “We knew they would come out aggressive. We knew they would make it a tough, tough game.”
Patterson finished the game 4 of 19 shooting, but made several critical plays in the second half. She finished with eight rebounds, four blocked shots and two assists.
“I was frustrated because I was something like 0 for 5 in the first half,” Patterson said. “I had to relax more, play relaxed, and that’s what I did. I didn’t stop shooting.
“We kept our composure. I’m proud of the team. We kept running players and we kept shooting. We kept doing what we had to do to pull it out in the end.”
HCC was very balanced with only two players scoring in double figures. Sophomore Laura Patrick finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Sophomore Alysse Barlow tallied nine points, five assists and four steals. Freshman Aja Sorrells scored six of her eight points off the bench and redshirt freshman Jasmine Patterson finished with six points. Small had eight points, a game-high 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. Sophomore Lanicia Lawrence hit four big free throws in the second half and grabbed eight rebounds, five were offensive boards.
Hutchinson shot 21 of 60 overall, hitting 3 of 12 from 3-point range and 16 of 23 from the foul line. HCC out-rebounded Cloud County 42-39.
Ashley Evans continued her hot recent play with a game-high 20 points to lead Cloud County (22-9). Aleesha Coulter had three 3-point goals and finished with 13 points. Brieona Walker finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Cloud County shot 15 of 51, the second time in the season series with HCC that the T-Birds shot less than 30 percent. Cloud hit 4 of 16 from 3-point range and 21 of 26 from the foul line.
After three early lead changes, Small scored inside to take a 5-4 lead with 17:42 to play. HCC never relinquished the lead from that point. Patrick hit two early 3-pointers; her second trey upped the Lady Dragon margin to 16-6 with 12:16 to play. Then Sorrells scored to up the lead to 18-6 with 11:04 to go. Cloud County went scoreless for 5 minutes, 33 seconds.
Barlow had a steal and layup to give HCC a 22-9 lead with 6:51 to play in the half. The well started to dry up for the Lady Dragons. Despite that, HCC maintained a 26-18 lead at halftime.
A Barlow layup, Patterson 3-pointer and Small layup helped Hutchinson jump out of the second-half gate fast to lead 32-18 – the largest lead of the game with 18:42 to play. Cloud then score back-to-back 3s by Coulter as part of an 8-0 T-Bird run to pull within 32-26 with 17:03 to go.
HCC countered with a 7-2 run to build a double-figure lead of 11 at 39-28 with 11:30 to go. With the lead cut again to seven at 45-38, four-straight free throws from Lawrence and Small pushed the Hutch lead to 49-38 with 7:06 to play.
Evans then scored nine-straight Cloud County points to get the lead down to 54-47 with 2:57 to play. Patterson answered for the Lady Dragons with a power move and pulled up for a short jumper to give the Lady Dragons a 56-47 lead with 2:44 to go.
“Jackie had a big basket for us late in the game,” Ontjes said. “She was extremely tired I know, but she came up big for us when we needed her.”
GAME NOTES – The Lady Dragons are now 41-32 vs. Cloud County, 3-2 in Region VI play. HCC has won 11 of the last 12 with the Thunderbirds. … HCC is 30-0 when leading at halftime. … This was the 14th time this season HCC has held an opponent to less than 30 percent shooting and the 30th time to hold a team to less than 40 percent shooting. … The 2012 sophomores earned their 62nd victory. … Alysse Barlow moved up two spots to 16th on the career scoring list with 742 points. … She is now alone in third on the career assists list with 291 and upped her career steals record to 167. … Barlow also moved into a second-place tie on the single-season steals chart with Missy Schomaker with 87 steals. … Cloud’s Ashley Evans had an opponent single-game hit 11 free throws. … Chelsea Small has had back-to-back double-figure rebound games.
(HCC Sports Information)