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By Bret Mitchell
HCC Sports
Information
Wednesday, January
31, 2008
CONCORDIA – The Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team is once
again in first place in the Jayhawk Conference West Division, sharing that
spot with Cloud County after a huge 59-55 upset of the No. 8-ranked
Thunderbirds on Wednesday night at the Thunderdome.
Hutchinson
(18-4) and Cloud County (18-3) are now tied atop the Jayhawk West standings
with 7-1 records. The Lady Dragons have an early big tie-breaker over the
Thunderbirds heading into the second half of the league season. HCC will
have its second conference bye on Saturday and begin the second half of the
Jayhawk West season next Wednesday at Seward County.
The
victory also snapped a snapped a four-game losing streak to the
Thunderbirds, and was Hutchinson’s first victory over a nationally ranked
team since defeating Division II, No. 5 North Central Missouri last season.
It’s the first win over a Division I-ranked team since topping No. 6 Cowley
College 64-59 in overtime at the 2005 Jayhawk Shootout.
Trailing 30-28 at halftime, it’s the first time that the Lady Dragons have
come from behind to win a game after trailing at halftime. Hutchinson
outscored Cloud County 31-25 in the second half.
Hutchinson’s No. 5-ranked national defense clamped down on the Thunderbirds,
holding them 24 points below their season scoring average. Cloud County
shot just 36.8 percent from the field (21 of 57), and a staggering 0 of 17
from beyond the arc. Cloud County did shoot 13 of 15 from the line. Cloud
County’s top 3-point shooter, Amy Chapman, was 0 of 10 from 3-point range.
Cloud
County’s Kenya Howard was the main weapon for the Thunderbirds, scoring 29
points on 10 of 15 shooting. But she was scoreless in the final eight
minutes of the game.
“Both
teams played extremely hard, it was a physical ball game,” HCC coach John
Ontjes said. “It was important for us to come in and match them
physically.”
When
the Lady Dragons weren’t committing 26 turnovers, they shot an efficient 21
of 39 from the field (53.8 percent), including 5 of 11 from 3-point range
and 12 of 20 in free throws.
Sophomore Amanda Fessenden led the Lady Dragons with 16 points, going 8 of
10 from the free-throw line. Fessenden also had seven rebounds.
Sophomore center Amber Schroer hit several huge shots in the second half,
going a perfect 7 of 7 from the floor for 14 points and six rebounds.
“Amber was amazing, she came up big for us,” Fessenden said. “I’m proud of
her; we knew she was capable of doing that.”
Freshman Morgan Leatherbury had a big game on both ends of the floor,
scoring eight points, while getting four rebounds and five steals. Freshman
Kylee Naccarato had seven points.
The
game was a hard-fought, physical contest from the outset. It featured 16
lead changes and nine ties. The largest lead for either team was seven
points.
A
Fessenden free throws at the 10:04 mark of the first half tied the score at
17-all and sparked a 7-0 Lady Dragon run 2 minutes, 49 seconds that was
capped off by a Brittany Hines’ 3-pointer as the shot clock ran out to give
HCC the largest lead of the game, 24-17 with 7:15 remaining in the half.
Hutchinson kept the lead for the rest of the half, until a Howard
three-point play on a transition layup with 22 seconds left gave the
Thunderbirds a 30-28 advantage at the break.
Back-to-back buckets by Schroer and Lauren Sparks started a wild and wooly
second half, giving HCC back the lead at 32-30 with 18:32 to play. That was
the start of seven lead changes in the first 6:13 of the second half.
Leatherbury’s 3-point goal with 13:47 to play gave HCC a 39-37 lead.
There
were four more lead changes and two ties in the next six minutes. A
Fessenden trey with 5:20 to go gave Hutch a 50-48 lead. Cloud County tied
the game twice more at 50-all and 52-all on Stephanie Bryant’s bucket with
1:48 to go.
Hutchinson answered that bucket right away and took the lead for good when
Schroer squared up from 12 feet and buried a jump shot with less than 10
seconds remaining on the shoot block for a 54-52 lead with 1:29 to play.
“I
was confident, I just wanted to win and forget everything else,” Schroer
said.
Bryant hit another short jumper with 30 seconds to play to pull Cloud County
within 57-55, but Naccarato and Fessenden hit key free throws and the Lady
Dragons’ defense forced a turnover final 30 seconds to finish off the
victory.
“This
was a great win for our team,” Ontjes said. “Conference champ is now a
realistic goal for us.”
GAME NOTES
– The Amanda Fessenden stat watch continues. She eclipsed the 700-point mark
and moved into 18th place on the HCC career scoring list with 704 points. …
Cloud’s 0-of-17 3-point shooting effort was the worst against the Lady
Dragons this season, and the third time a team has not had at least one
3-pointer in the game. … HCC is now 1-4 when trailing at halftime. … This is
the sixth time this season that HCC has shot 50 percent or better. … This is
the third game that Morgan Leatherbury has had five or more steals in a
game. … HCC is now 5-2 in their last seven games at Cloud County. … HCC
moved to within three victories of career No. 650.
<HCC WOMEN-CLOUD COUNTY BOXSCORE>
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On
the defensive game plan …
“We
wanted to slow #15 down (Amy Chapman) down, and our kids battled even when
we got down. We played with a lot of confidence on the road.”
On
Amber Schroer …
“Amber was a warrior tonight. It was nice to see our kids getting the ball
to her.”
Sophomore Amanda Fessenden
On
staying confident down the stretch …
“Coach is really good about keeping us composed. We contained their runs
and made ours.”
On
the long game …
“It
was a really strange game. So many emotions, really fun game to play in.”
Sophomore
Amber Schroer
On
Cloud’s post play…
“They
were really tough inside, had some good moves.”
On
the road win…
“To
come in here and win on their home court makes it even better.” |
