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By Bret Mitchell
HCC Sports
Information
Wednesday,
February 6, 2008
LIBERAL – Just hours after earning a national ranking for the first time in
two years, the Hutchinson Community College
women’s basketball team battled hard on the road, but could not convert on
some late chances to win and fell to Seward County 60-57 in overtime at the
Green House.
Hutchinson (18-5, 7-2 Jayhawk West) led 51-49 with 16 seconds left in
regulation, but Stephani Rhoten converted two free throws with 12 seconds to
play to force overtime. Then in overtime, the Lady Dragons needed a
3-pointer to tie the game after a Tegan Cunningham three-point play, but
couldn’t get a shot off from behind the arc before time expired.
The
loss drops the Lady Dragons (18-5, 7-2) to fourth place in the Jayhawk West
with Barton County. Earlier in the day, the Lady Dragons received its first
national ranking since Jan. 11, 2006 when they were ranked 20th in the
nation.
The
Lady Dragons were led by sophomore Amanda Fessenden, who scored 15 points
and grabbed seven rebounds. Freshman guard Kylee Naccarato also came up
big, scoring 10 points with six rebounds. Six of Naccarato’s points came
from two huge second-half 3-pointers. Sophomores Hailey Purcell and Lanikia
Lawrence scored eight points each. Purcell added six rebounds.
HCC
as a team shot 38.2 percent (21 of 55) from the field and 6 of 18 from the
3-point line. The Lady Dragons were 9 of 10 from the free-throw line and
committed 20 turnovers. The Lady Dragons outrebounded Seward County 32-26.
The
Saints shot 35.7 percent (20 of 56) overall, 7 of 19 from 3-point range and
13 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Hutchinson contained Cunningham, the nation’s third-leading scorer, for most
of the second half, but she was still able to rack up 20 points, including a
critical three-point play in overtime. Guard Stephani Rhoten had 16 points,
going 10 of 10 from the free-throw line. Forward Audra Binford hurt the Lady
Dragons with four 3-point goals in the second half to finish with 12 points.
“We
did a good job on Binford in the first half, but 12 second half points made
the difference in the game, because we did a good job of containing Tegan
until late in the game,” Hutchinson head coach John Ontjes said.
HCC
came out strong scoring the first 10 points of the game, with six coming
from beyond the arc courtesy of Fessenden. The run took five minutes, but
just five minutes later Seward battled all the way back to within two points
at 12-10.
A
Cunningham field goal tied the game at 20 with four minutes remaining in the
half, but Seward never gained a first-half lead and HCC headed into the
break with the slim 26-25 advantage.
The
Saints took the lead on the first possession of the second half, when
Binford made her first 3-pointer. Sparks answered with a trey of her own.
Trailing by two, back-to-back baskets by Lawrence gave HCC a 39-37 lead with
10:54 to play.
Binford’s fourth and final 3-point shot seemed to be the final dagger to
kill HCC, giving Seward a 47-41 lead with 5:11 to play in regulation.
Naccarato then drilled a 3-pointer to stop the Seward momentum and cut the
Saints lead in half at 47-44.
“At
the beginning of the game I was getting a lot of my shots blocked, but when
you have an open look in that kind of game you have to take it,” Naccarato
said.
With
the Seward lead at 49-44, Fessenden and Naccarato hit back-to-back
3-pointers for a 50-49 lead with 2:13 to play. Sophomore Fairen Lepaio
converted one of two free throws for a 51-49 lead with 20 seconds to play.
Rhoten was then fouled on the ensuing possession, and made two free throws
to force overtime after HCC couldn’t get a final shot off.
Fessenden provided the first two points of overtime, but Cunningham scored
the next five, three on a conventional three-point play with 1:00 to play to
give Seward a 56-55 lead. Down three with 16 seconds remaining, Naccarato
hit two free throws to bring HCC to within a point at 58-578. Rhoten sank
two free throws with 11 seconds to play, and HCC could not manage a decent
shot to tie the game on the final possession.
“We
were hoping to take the last shot, we didn’t execute well in the late game
situations and that was my fault,” Ontjes said.
HCC
returns home for the first time in two weeks when it takes on Butler at the
Sports Arena on Saturday at 5:30.
GAME NOTES
– With her three 3-point field goals, Amanda Fessenden jumped from ninth to
a tie for seventh on HCC’s career 3-point list with 91. Fessenden also
jumped two spots to 16th on HCC’s career scoring list with 720 points. …
Hutchinson outrebounded Seward 41-30, just as they had in the first contest
42-28, in a 61-51 Hutchinson win. … Seward County’s Cunningham played all 45
minutes. … Seward County now leads the all-time series with Hutchinson
<HCC-SEWARD COUNTY BOXSCORE>
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On
the road competitiveness in a tough environment …
“We
came in here and competed against a good basketball team, gave ourselves a
chance to win the game.”
On
the guard play …
“Kylee stepped up and made some big 3s in the second half. We need to play
more aggressive; in stretches we have kids that play passive.”
Sophomore Guard Amanda Fessenden
On
the all-around performance …
“We
kind of got lax on defense, gave up a few boards. We played decent, but you
can’t win a game with 20 turnovers.”
On
the last possessions …
“We
were trying to hit a three, but they guarded it pretty well and we had to
get it in bounds and throw up a hail mary.”
Freshman Guard Kylee Naccarato
On
her team’s performance …
“I
think the team played well, it just came down to executing at the end of the
game and we weren’t able to get that done.” |
