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By Bret Mitchell
HCC Sports Information
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
The Hutchinson Community
College women’s basketball team ran its winning streak to eight straight
games, taking care of business at home in a 73-44 Jayhawk Conference Western
Division victory over the Pratt Beavers on Wednesday night at the Sports
Arena.
Hutchinson (15-3
overall), is now 4-0 in the Jayhawk West, the first perfect league start
after four games since 1986.
A pair of sophomores led
the way for HCC’s third-straight victory over Pratt.
Amanda Fessenden scored
14 points, going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line, and grabbed eight
rebounds. In league play, Fessenden is averaging 18.0 points and 8.3
rebounds per game. Fessenden also jumped two spots on the HCC career scoring
list to 23rd with 656 points.
Sophomore Fairen Lepaio
had a season-high 14 points, shooting 6 of 7 from the field and 2 of 2 from
3-point range. It was only Lepaio’s second double-figure scoring game of the
season. Coming into Wednesday, Lepaio was averaging 5.7 points per game.
“She is a very good
perimeter player,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said of Lepaio. “She really
needs to be playing on the perimeter where she can face the basket. She’s a
tremendous shooter from the perimeter.”
Freshman Lauren Sparks
also scored in double figures with 11 points, scoring nine in the first
half.
The Lady Dragons shot
48.1 percent (25 of 52) from the floor and was 5 of 11 from 3-point range.
HCC struggled from the free-throw line for a second-straight game, hitting
18 of 30 (60 percent). HCC finished with 17 turnovers and outrebounded Pratt
42-33. Fessenden and sophomore Amber Schroer had a game-high eight rebounds
each.
Pratt (4-13, 1-4)
struggled offensively, shooting 12 of 50 (24.0 percent). The Beavers were
just 5 of 26 (19.2 percent) in the second half. Pratt was just 1 of 14 from
3-point, but 19 of 28 from the foul line.
Pratt was led by Sasha
Crosby with 13 points and five rebounds. Wyniesha Webb had 10 points. The
Beavers committed 19 turnovers.
The Beavers scored the
first points of the game, but after a Sparks 3-pointer, HCC went on an 11-0
run, capped off by a Kylee Naccarato layup with 16:10 to go for an 11-2
advantage. The Lady Dragons then went scoreless for the next 6 minutes, 21
seconds. Pratt scored eight unanswered points to pull within 11-10 with
11:26 to play on a Crosby bucket.
After that, HCC stopped
three Pratt attempts to take the lead, and then went on a 16-3 run over the
next 7:20, building a 27-13 lead on a Lepaio layup with 2:27 to play in the
half.
Two Morgan Leatherbury
free throws with 51 seconds to go gave Hutch its largest lead of the half at
32-16, but Pratt scored the final four points of the half with HCC leading
32-20.
Pratt scored the first
bucket of the second half, but HCC answered with a 10-3 run sparked by two
Schroer putbacks. Lepaio’s bucket with 14:54 to play gave Hutch a 42-25
lead. Another Lepaio 3-pointer at the 11:49 mark gave HCC its first 20-point
advantage at 47-27. When Pratt cut the lead to 17, Fessenden kept them down
with a 3-point field goal for a 52-32 advantage.
Pratt failed to make
another serious run, with the smallest HCC lead being 18 down the stretch,
until it eventually grew to the 29 point advantage that the Lady Dragons
would be victorious by.
HCC shot 13 of 26 (50
percent) in the second half and held Pratt to 5 of 26 shooting (19.2
percent) in the final 20 minutes.
“The first half we came
out really strong, and then we sort of came back and we panicked a bit
towards the end of the half,” Sparks said. “We came out more relaxed and
prepared in the second half.”
Hutchinson will look to
stay in at least a tie for first place in the Jayhawk West when the Lady
Dragons travel to Colby at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
“It’s not the same
routine, but it gives us an extra day to prepare,” Ontjes said. We need to
be fresh; they’re a team that we are going to really have to guard the
3-point line against. It’s going to be a difficult road test for us.”
GAME NOTES
– Hutchinson was in the received notes column of the NJCAA women’s Division
I national rankings for the second-straight week. The poll was released
earlier on Wednesday. … HCC’s bench was productive, outscoring the Pratt
bench 34-14. … Fessenden’s seven free throws put her alone in fifth place
with 207 on the career free-throw list. She previous held the spot with Taya
Allen. HCC has outrebounded 16 of 18 opponents this season. … HCC improved
on their second-ranked Region VI defense, holding Pratt to 44 points, which
was 18 points below its season scoring average. … HCC is now 57-8 in the
all-time series against Pratt.
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John
Ontjes
On the Pratt defense
…
“I thought Pratt did a
good job of getting us out of the flow of our offense, and Fairen stepped up
and made some big shots from the outside.”
On Lauren Sparks …
“Lauren is doing a great
job for us. She’s starting to settle down and make great decisions. I’m
really proud of her because she has defended so well.”
Freshman Guard Lauren
Sparks
On Fairen Lepaio…
“Fairen is one of our
best shooters, and coach is always at her to shoot more,” Sparks said.
Freshman Forward
Fairen Lepaio
About her shooting
performance …
“I guess I just didn’t
really think about it too much. Every other game I worry. Today I just
went out and didn’t think, and they went in.”
On her teammates
encouragement …
“Fess is the one out of
all of them that tells me to shoot the ball more.” |
