by Steve Carpenter, HCC Sports Information
LIBERAL – The No. 7-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team saw an 11-point lead disappear in the final quarter and the Seward County Saints rallied to defeat the Blue Dragons 68-63 on Wednesday night at the Greenhouse.
Hutchinson had its 14-game winning streak snapped and it’s the first time that Seward County defeated the Blue Dragons on the court since 2009. The Blue Dragons fall to 24-2 and 14-2 in the Jayhawk Conference. With Garden City’s overtime win over Dodge City, the Blue Dragons’ league lead drops to one-half game. Seward County improves to 17-7 and 9-5.
The Blue Dragons led 55-44 after a Lakin Preisner steal and layup with 3:32 remaining in the third quarter. HCC shot 53.5 percent through three quarters and led 57-50 heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter wound up tying for the lowest single quarter this season for Hutchinson as the Saints outscored the Blue Dragons 18-6. HCC was 3 of 15 shooting with five turnovers in the quarter and the Dragons went scoreless for 7 minutes, 3 seconds. The Saints went on a 10-0 run over that span, taking the lead for good on a Daniela Galindo layup with 2:06 to play.
Freshman Kirea Rogers posted her sixth double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. She also had three steals.
Sophomore Mandy Madden finished with 10 points and five boards. Preisner and freshman Inja Butina had nine points each. Freshman Taylor Stahly closed with eight points.
Hutchinson closed the game shooting 44.8 percent (26 of 58), going 4 of 16 from 3-point range and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line. The Dragons out-rebounded Seward County 39-32, but committed 15 turnovers.
Tiani White scored 18 points to lead Seward County. Galindo had 15 points, while Axelle Bernard and Joanna Grymek had 10 points each. The Saints shot 44.6 percent (25 of 56), hitting 5 of 19 from 3-point range and 13 of 21 from the free-throw line. The Saints had 13 turnovers.
Seward County had an early 12-8 lead, but the Dragons went on an 8-0 run to lead 16-12 after a Kyla Williams bucket with 2:31 to play in the first quarter. Seward County then scored five straight to lead 17-16, but HCC closed the quarter with a Butina layup and a Madden baseline jumper with 3 seconds to play which gave HCC a 20-17 lead after one quarter.
The first half featured eight lead changes in the first 13:40. Rogers scored with 3:40 to play in the second quarter which gave HCC a 30-29 lead. Stahly and Preisner had 3-pointers in the final 1:05 of the period to give the Blue Dragons a 39-34 lead at halftime. The Blue Dragons shot 53.3 percent in the opening half (16 of 30).
HCC’s first points of the third quarter was a Butina 3-pointer with 8:53 remaining, which pushed the lead to 42-34. After the Saints pulled within 50-44, Stahly knocked down a 3-poitner and then Preisner had a steal and layup with 3:32 to play to build a 55-44 lead. White scored five straight for the Saints, but Rogers scored with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give the Dragons 57-50 lead entering the final quarter.
White wound up scoring 11 straight Seward County points, the final bucket of that run was a layup with 7:28 remaining. Madden countered with an inside bucket with 7:16 remaining for a 61-56 HCC lead. Those were Hutchinson’s last points for the next 7 minutes, 3 seconds.
The Saints scored 10-straight points to build a 66-61 lead with 20 seconds remaining. The Dragons had a chance with 12 seconds to go when Madden scored and was fouled to cut the lead to three. She didn’t make the free throw, but Seward County missed a pair of free throws on the other when with 10 seconds left. The Dragons couldn’t get a 3-pointer to final on their last possession.
The Blue Dragons play host to Cloud County at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Sports Arena.
GAME NOTES – HCC surrendered its largest lead of the season in a loss. … The Blue Dragons are now 22-1 when leading a game after three quarters. … The all-time series is tied at 42-42, but the Dragons trail 16-23 in Liberal. … With two 3-pointers, Taylor Stahly ties Brittany Dietz (2003) for fourth on the single-season 3-point list with 90. … Kirea Rogers moved up to No. 4 on the freshman free-throw list with 110. … Inja Butina moved past Kalani Purcell into second on the single-season assist list with 190. She is now in sole possession of ninth place on the season steals list with 83. … HCC’s six-point fourth quarter tied the first quarter against NEO for a season low. … The nine HCC free-throw attempts were a season low.
(HCC Sports Information)