NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The No. 2-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team overcame its first halftime deficit of the season on Sunday to rally and defeat the No. 11 Salt Lake Bruins 55-46 in the first game of the College of Southern Nevada/Las Vegas Holiday Classic.
Powered by a strong second half from sophomore Kalani Purcell, the Blue Dragons rallied from 10 points down in the first half and a 23-19 halftime deficit. HCC shot only 6 of 27 in the first half (22.2 percent).
Hutchinson is now 13-0 overall and won its 62nd-straight regular-season non-conference game. The Blue Dragons will meet 13-3 College of Eastern Utah at Noon PST (2 p.m. Hutchinson time) on Monday in their final non-conference game.
Purcell finished the game with her ninth double-double of the season and 27th of her career, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. She added seven assists and five steals, most of those coming in the second half. After missing the final 12 minutes, 45 seconds of the first half after picking up her second personal foul, Purcell ignited the Blue Dragons defensively and got her team in transition. Purcell had six points, seven rebounds, seven assists and four steals in a final half that saw HCC outscore Salt Lake 36-23.
Purcell jumped into 20th place on HCC’s career scoring chart with 737 points. She jumped into fifth place on HCC’s career rebounding list with 514 and she moved into second place on the career steals list with 173.
Sophomore guard Alyx Bloom hit four key free throws down the stretch and was Hutchinson’s leading scorer with 11 points. Sophomores Shakira Harding and Sydney Benoit and freshmen Cynthia Petke and Clemence LeFebvre all had eight points each.
HCC had its season-low offensive performance and tied a season-low in field-goal percentage at 32.5 percent (21 of 56). The Dragons hit just 2 of 11 from 3-point range and 11 of 14 from the free-throw line. Hutchinson out-rebounded Salt Lake 37-32 and turned the ball over 21 times.
Clarissa Sebedra had a game-high 21 points on 3 of 4 3-point goals to lead Salt Lake (12-4). No other Bruin scored in double figures. The Bruins were held to a season-low point total, 30 points under their 76 point scoring average. Salt Lake had 13 of its 21 turnovers in the second half.
Hutchinson hadn’t played in 15 days and Salt Lake hadn’t played in 10 days. Both offenses showed rust in the first half and when Purcell left the game with 12:45 remaining in the opening half, Salt Lake led 8-6.
A LeFebvre putback with 7:38 to play gave HCC an 11-8 lead. The Dragons went scoreless for the next 4 minutes, 21 seconds. Salt Lake cashed in with a 15-2 run and led 23-13 with 3:04 to play in the half after a Sebedra 3-point goal.
After a Blue Dragon 30-second timeout, the Dragons started to chisel away at their largest deficit of the season. After the final 3:21, HCC outscored Salt Lake 6-0, holding the Bruins to 0 of 4 shooting down the stretch. Two Harding field goals and two LeFebvre free throws with 40 seconds left helped HCC cut the Salt Lake lead to 23-19 at halftime.
The Blue Dragons continued to pressure Salt Lake defensively to open the second half. The Bruins were 0 of 2 with three turnovers on their first five second-half possessions. But Salt Lake continued to hold off HCC and led 33-28 with 13:26 to play in the second half after two Sebedra free throws.
Hutch started a 10-2 run with a Bloom transition hoop after a Salt Lake turnover. The Dragons grabbed their first lead since midway through the first half when Purcell had a steal and fed Harding with a transition bucket for a 36-35 lead and Petke closed the run with an inside bucket for a 38-35 lead with 8:32 to play. After Cassidy Whitney scored to pull Salt Lake within one, Benoit drained a huge 3-pointer to up the Dragon lead to 41-37 with 8:00 to play.
The Dragons pushed their lead to seven at 47-40 after a Purcell bucket to complete a 28-17 run to erase the halftime deficit. Salt Lake made a 5-0 run to pull within 47-45 with 3:15 to play after a Shelby Richards layup. The Blue Dragons closed the game on an 8-1 run, holding the Bruins to 0 of 4 shooting with two turnovers on their final six possessions.
The Blue Dragons shot 51.7 percent in the second half (15 of 29) and held Salt Lake to 35.0 percent (7 of 20) with 13 turnovers.
GAME NOTES – Hutchinson is 3-0 vs. nationally ranked opponents this season and is 33-9 in the John Ontjes era. … Salt Lake is the 268th straight opponent not to shoot better than 50 percent against HCC. … Kalani Purcell is five steals away from surpassing Alyssa Barlow (2010-12) for the HCC career steals record. … HCC won its sixth-straight holiday tournament game and are 17-3 all-time in holiday tournaments. … This was the seventh time this season that HCC held an opponent to less than 50 points and 10th time to hold an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting. … This was Cynthia Petke’s eighth game with double-figure rebounds.
(HCC Sports Information)
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