For the second time in eight days, the NJCAA fourth-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team dispatched a nationally ranked opponent. This time the Lady Dragons used a big second half to pull away from and defeat No. 18 State Fair 82-63 in the Airport Steakhouse Classic at the Sports Arena.
Sophomore Laura Patrick scored a career-high 21 points and All-American Jackie Patterson added a season-high 18 points to lead the Lady Dragons, who shot nearly 66 percent from the field in the second half and outscored the Roadrunners 43-28 in the final 20 minutes.
With their 9-0 start to the season, the Lady dragons tied for the ninth-best start in program history. HCC also extended its team-record homecourt winning streak 48 games and defeated State Fair for the first time in the teams’ second-ever meeting.
But against the No. 18 roadrunners (7-1), HCC head coach John Ontjes wasn’t completely happy with the performance.
“I didn’t feel like our ball club was sharp at all,” Ontjes said. “With really, everything. With defending, we were careless with the ball, and we had a lack of concentration at the foul line.
“State Fair played extremely hard. They trap, and they force you to play fast. They really get you out of your comfort zone.”
Hutchinson had an 11-point first-half lead, but State Fair managed to chop away at HCC and pulled within 39-35 at halftime when Jermisha Watson hit a shot at the buzzer.
But the second half was a much different story as the Lady Dragons scored the first eight points of the game to push the lead back into double digits. State Fair got as close as nine points on five occasions, the last coming with 9:07 to play, but the Lady Dragons shot 17 of 26 in the second half to only 8 of 29 shooting by the roadrunners to pull away, outscoring State Fair 18-6 over a 6-minute stretch of the second half.
The Lady Dragons shot 50.9 percent for the game (32 of 63), including 6 of 14 from 3-point range and a season-low 12 of 26 from the foul line. HCC committed 23 turnovers, but outrebounded State Fair 51-38.
Patrick finished 8 of 14 shooting overall, including 4 of 7 from 3-point range to finish with 21 points. She added four assists.
Patterson had 18 points, nine rebounds and became the third Lady Dragon to block four shots in a game. HCC had a season-high 10 blocks as Chelsea Small and Kara Lee had three each.
“We were missing layups – easy ones – and wide-open looks,” Patterson said. “We also struggled to get the ball up court at times. I mean, we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to turn the ball over and miss layups, but when we mess up, we’ve got to get it back at the defensive end. We did that sometimes, but we’d also let them penetrate to the basket, and we committed way too many fouls.”
Sophomore Alysse Barlow had a strong all-around game with 10 points to go with five rebounds, five assists and four steals.. Small had seven points and nine rebounds.
Ariel Easton had 20 points to lead the Roadrunners, but she did it on 7 of 23 shooting and 2 of 12 from long range. Ryneka Church added 15.
State Fair shot a season-low 30.3 percent (20 of 66), including 3 of 20 from 3-point range and 20 of 32 from the foul line. The Roadrunners turned the ball over 23 times.
The teams traded runs in the first half. After a Patrick trey with 10:13 to play gave Hutchinson an 18-11 lead, State Fair went on a 6-0 run to pull with 18-16 with 8:51 to play. The Dragons countered with a 10-0 run – seven points by Patrick and three from Jade Herl – to push the lead to 30-19 with 4:53 remaining. State Fair responded with a 9-0 run to get within 30-28 on an Alexas Brown bucket with 2:56 to go in the half.
HCC led 39-35 at intermission.
Hutch opened the second half on an 8-0 run with baskets by four different players to push the lead to 47 -35 with 18:15 to go in the game. HCC’s defense took over, never allowing the Roadrunners any closer than nine points.
Leading 59-50, HCC busted the game open with an 11-3 run to lead 70-53 with 4:22 to play in the game.
Hutchinson will take on Barclay College at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday. Barclay was a 120-25 loser to No. 14 Seward County on Friday.
GAME NOTES – The 2011-12 Lady Dragons are tied with the 1988-89 team for the ninth-best start to a season. … HCC broke 80 points for the sixth time in nine games. … It was the ninth-straight time to hold an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting. … HCC had 25 assists on 32 makes. Lanicia Lawrence had a game-high six assists.
(HCC Sports Information)