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By Bret Mitchell
HCC Sports Information
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Hutchinson Community
College women’s basketball team assured itself of no worse than the third
seed out of the Jayhawk West for next week’s Region VI Tournament on
Saturday after upsetting 19th-ranked Cloud County 67-62 on Saturday at the
Sports Arena to complete a season sweep of the Thunderbirds.
The Lady Dragons can
still claim the second seed if Colby can upset Seward County on Sunday in
Colby. Regardless of the seed, HCC will play host to an opponent to be
determined on Tuesday night in the Region VI Tournament’s first-round at
5:30 p.m. in the Sports Arena.
This was the second
victory over a nationally ranked team this season for HCC, which previously
had not defeated a Division I-ranked foe since 2005.
The Lady Dragons are now
23-7 overall; the 23 victories tie for the fourth-most in program history.
HCC completes the Jayhawk West season at 12-4. The 12 Jayhawk West wins tie
for the second most league victories in program history and finish in a tie
for second place, HCC’s best finish since tying for second in 2002.
“We hope this gives us a
little momentum going into Region VI play,” said HCC head coach John Ontjes,
whose 23 wins in his first season are the most for any HCC coach in his or
her first season. “Hopefully, we continue to do the things we've done the
last two games, which is execute.”
A couple of team records
fell on Saturday.
Sophomore Amanda
Fessenden went 11 of 11 from the free-throw line and broke her own team
record for consecutive free throws. The current streak is now 25 straight
makes.
Sophomore Amber Schroer
set a new single-game record for blocked shots with seven rejections.
Schroer jumped into a tie for second in career blocked shots with 61 and
moved into second on the single-season list with 39.
Fessenden had a huge
overall game, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and three
steals.
Freshman Brittany Hines
was also in double figures for the second-straight game with 11 points,
hitting 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.
Schroer was nearing
triple-double territory with 10 points, nine rebounds and three assists to
go with her seven blocks.
Freshman Kylee Naccarato
finished with nine points, while sophomore Hailey Purcell had seven points
and nine rebounds. Sophomore Lanikia Lawrence also had seven points.
“It was really
important to send the sophomores out with a win,” Hines said. “They
definitely deserve it.”
HCC shot 19 of 49 from
the field (38.8 percent), only 3 of 11 from beyond the arc. Hutchinson
capitalized from the free-throw line, making 26 of 37 attempts. The Dragons
had 23 turnovers and a team season-high nine blocked shots.
A key stat for HCC was
rebounding. The Lady Dragons were a minus-11 rebounding in the first half
and gave up 14 offensive rebounds. HCC was a plus-8 in the second half and
was outrebounded for the game 46-43.
Cloud County (23-6,
12-4); fell to the fourth seed out of the Jayhawk West. The Thunderbirds
struggled against HCC’s No. 6-nationally ranked defense, shooting 22 of 73
(30.1 percent). HCC held Cloud County without a 3-point goal for the
second-straight game. The T-Birds were 0 of 11 on Saturday after going 0 of
17 in HCC’s 59-55 victory on Jan. 30 in Concordia. Cloud County was 18 of 27
from the free-throw line. Cloud had 17 turnovers.
Kenya Howard scored a
game-high 22 points and posted a double-double with 10 rebounds. Deandra
Schirmer scored 21 points before fouling out with four minutes to play.
Schirmer had nine rebounds.
Hutchinson trailed for
the first 8 minutes of the contest, but used a 10-0 run to capture the lead.
Purcell’s steal and layup gave Hutch its first lead at 15-13 with 11:50 to
play and HCC stretched the lead out to five with a Lawrence free throw to
lead 18-13 with 10:33 to play.
HCC still led 21-16, but
hit an offensive lull, allowing Cloud County to go on a 10-1 run over the
next three minutes to build a 26-22 advantage after a Howard hoop with 3:37
to play.
The Lady Dragons
answered by holding the Thunderbirds scoreless for the remainder of the
half, closing on a 5-0 run. HCC took a 27-26 lead after sophomore Julie
Richardson grabbed an offensive rebound with time running out and flipped it
back to a wide-open Naccarato, who it an 8-foot jumper with 1 second to play
to give HCC the lead at halftime.
HCC is 19-1 when leading
at halftime this season.
Hutchinson opened the
second half on an 11-1 run, capped by a Naccarato trey for a 38-27 lead with
16:32 to play. The Lady Dragons then spent the rest of the game repelling
Cloud County challenges.
A Hines layup with just
6:05 remaining gave the Lady Dragons a 53-41 lead, but Cloud County’s
full-court press started to take a toll on the HCC guards and led to an 8-0
T-Bird run that was capped by Schirmer’s layup with 4:12 to play, cutting
the HCC lead to 53-49.
Hines then connected on
six straight free throws and later scored in transition after getting behind
Cloud County’s press for a 63-54 lead with 1:31 to play. Hutchinson
converted 10 of 12 free throws in the final minute to close out the victory.
GAME NOTES
– After the game, the six HCC sophomores – Amanda Fessenden, Amber Schroer,
Hailey Purcell, Fairen Lepaio, Julie Richardson and Lanikia Lawrence – were
honored on Sophomore Day. … HCC is now 25-22 all time against Cloud County,
earning only its second win over Cloud at the Sports Arena in the last eight
games. … Fessenden now has 832 career points, 10th on the career list. …
Fessenden became the third Lady Dragon to reach 250 free throws for a
career. … Fessenden is now tied for the career free-throw percentage lead at
84.8 percent with Brittany Dietz. … Fessenden is up to fourth on the
single-season free-throw list with 149. … Hines’ 7-of-8 performance from the
free-throw line were season highs in both categories.
<HCC-CLOUD COUNTY WOMEN'S BOXSCORE>
<HCC WOMEN-CLOUD COUNTY PHOTO GALLERY>
OTHER QUOTES
Head coach John
Ontjes
On defending the
Thunderbirds …
“We really tried to
double down on (Kenya Howard) tonight because she's such a good player. But
the difference was the defense we had on Chapman. In two games against us,
she's yet to make a field goal.”
On Brittany Hines
being able to break the press …
“Brittany (Hines) was
able to get in the middle of their press and attack it. They got a couple
baskets with us being lenient with the basketball, but Brittany kept
attacking and made some plays.”
Sophomore Amanda
Fessenden
On playing well at
the end of the season …
“It’s such a relief when
we come back out and play like we did in the first conference games. We’re
peaking at the right time so hopefully it carries on into Region VI.”
On the Thunderbird
press …
“We had a few dumb
turnovers, but I thought we handled the press pretty well.”
Freshman Brittany
Hines
On the press strategy
…
“If we get it to the
side or middle right away, the press is automatically broken.”
On the current level
of play …
“I think we’re
definitely peaking at the right time. We have the determination to go
pretty far in the tournament.” |
