by Steve Carpenter (HCC Sports Information)
SALINA – The No. 1-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team knocked off its sixth nationally ranked team on Thursday and advanced to the NJCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament Final Four for the fourth-straight season.
Led by sophomore Kalani Purcell’s 44th career double-double, four players scored in double figures and the bench turned in critical minutes as the top-seeded Blue Dragons defeated No. 3 Northwest Florida State 68-54 in the first of four quarterfinals at Salina’s Bicentennial Center.
The Blue Dragons improved to 35-0 and will play in the national semifinals for the fourth-consecutive season and for the fifth time in program history. Hutchinson will play No. 5 seed Walter State in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday.
Hutchinson led 32-18 at halftime, but saw that 14-point advantage whittle away. Northwest eventually tied the game at 43-all with 8:36 to play. Needing a surge of momentum, freshmen bench players Par McNair and Mandy Madden provided the spark.
On HCC’s next possession, McNair drilled a clutch 3-pointer from the top of the key to regain the lead. On Northwest’s next possession, Madden swatted away a point-blank shot opportunity for a defensive stop. The Dragons made it a 7-0 run when Clemence LeFebrvre was fouled while sinking a 3-point shot and made the free throws.
“Our bench was very important,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “Par hit a huge 3 when the game was tied and we gained some momentum back. Mandy was very solid tonight and she got a lot done for us.”
“I was just the open man and then found me,” McNair said.
HCC increased the run to 9-0 when Madden intercepted a pass and fed it ahead to McNair, who had an ankle-breaking pass fake and hit a layup with 6:52 to go for a 52-43 lead. The decisive run finished out at 15 unanswered points over a span of 3 minutes, 37 seconds to build a 58-43 lead.
Purcell posted her 26th double-double of the season and sixth-straight double-double in the national tournament with 17 points and a season-high 19 rebounds. It’s the fifth time in Purcell’s career that she had had a game of 18 or more rebounds. Purcell added six assists, four blocked shots and two steals.
“I think she understands what this means,” Ontjes said about Purcell. “We’ve got two games to go for a national championship and it means a lot to her. She was disappointed in last year’s finish in getting to the finals and not winning the championship. She’s put us on her back.”
LeFebvre hit 3 of 7 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points with four rebounds, three assists and three blocks. Cynthia Petke scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half. She finished with nine rebounds. Shakira Harding hit a pair of 3-pointers and had 10 points and five assists.
As for the bench players, McNair had seven critical points. Madden didn’t score, but played strong interior defense and had two blocked shots and a steal.
“Coach always gives us our chances to show up in a game,” McNair said. “It’s up to us when the opportunity comes.”
“Mandy’s peaking at the right time and those blocks helped her get some fire going,” Harding said of the bench play. “We all new she had that in her.”
The Blue Dragons were 25 of 54 shooting (46.3 percent) hitting 6 of 14 from 3-point range and 12 of 17 from the free-throw line. HCC held a 49-32 rebounding advantage and had a season-high 10 blocked shots. Turnovers were key to Northwest’s comebacks. HCC committed 25 turnovers.
“That’s been our Achilles’ heel all season is taking care of the basketball against pressure,” Ontjes said. “We struggled again today which allowed them to get back into the game. We know our strengths and we play to those strengths and we try to get over that hurdle.”
Tia Sanders scored all 14 of her points in the second half, including 10 in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half. Acey Powell had nine points and did Daniela Wallen. The Raiders shot 29.4 percent (20 of 58), hitting 6 of 24 from 3-point range and 8 of 9 from the foul line. The Raiders turned the ball over 16 times.
The first four-plus minutes of the game were fast and furious and the game was tied at 7-7 with 16:14 to go in the half. HCC went on a 9-2 run capped off by a Harding 3-pointer for a 16-9 Hutch lead with 11:29 remaining.
Holding Northwest to 7 of 30 shooting in the opening 20 minutes, HCC’s lead was only 24-18 with 3:37 to play after an Alliyah Smith bucket. HCC closed the half on an 8-0 run which was capped by two Alyx Bloom free throws with 1:34 remaining for a 32-18 lead at halftime.
Petke hit a jumper to open the second half, but the first 5 minutes of the half was anything but negative for the Blue Dragons. HCC turned the ball over six times in the first five minutes with fueled a 15-4 Raider run to pull within 36-33 with 14:55 remaining. HCC scored five in a row to push the lead back to eight, but Northwest Florida used a 10-2 run to tie the game at 43-43 with 8:36 to play.
That’s when McNair hit a momentum-changing 3-pointer and started the Blue Dragons’ 15-0 run over the next 3:37. A three-point play by Wallen with 3:15 to play pulled the Raiders within 60-50, but HCC took care of business with a 6-0 run and re-built a 16-point lead on a Bloom layup.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 5-0 in the NJCAA quarterfinals and 15-7 all-time in the NJCAA Tournament. … HCC head coach John Ontjes is 36-9 against nationally ranked teams. … HCC is 2-0 against Northwest Florida State, both meetings coming in the NJCAA Tournament quarterfinals. … HCC’s 35 wins ties the last year’s team for the third most in program history. … The 2015 sophomore class improved its record to 70-1. … This year’s Blue Dragons broke the team record for field goals (1,065), are now No. 3 in rebounds (1,643), No. 3 in assists (752) and No. 2 in blocked shots (151). … Cynthia Petke moved up to No. 7 on the single-season scoring list with 534 points. Clemence LeFebvre moved up to No. 13 in single-season scoring with 483 points. … Kalani Purcell moved up to No. 4 in career assists with 313. This was the 18th game where HCC held an opponent to less than 30 percent shooting.
(HCC Sports Information)