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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Thursday, December 20, 2007
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – It took awhile to shake
off the rust, but the Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team
finally figured out Scottsdale Community College in a 77-62 victory on
Thursday in the first game of the Phoenix Holiday Classic.
Three HCC sophomores stepped up to lead the
Lady Dragons (10-3) in the program’s first game against a team from Arizona.
Sophomore Amber Schroer, who was just 5 for
her last 21 shots taken, hit 6 of 9 from the floor to lead HCC with a
season-high 17 points. Schroer also had eight rebounds and a career
high-tying three blocked shots.
“It was quite a performance by Amber,” HCC
head coach John Ontjes said. “She was really active, probably the most
active I’ve seen her on the offensive boards. She did a great job for us
tonight. I was pleased with her performance.”
Sophomore Amanda Fessenden had her second
double-double of the season and third of her career with 16 points and a
career-high 15 rebounds. Fessenden also had four assists, a blocked shot and
a steal.
“She didn’t shoot the ball well tonight, but
she had 15 rebounds for us tonight,” Ontjes said of Fessenden. “She was 4 of
4 from the foul line. She had four assists. When things aren’t going her
way, she finds other ways to help us. She’s a complete player. She’s very
competitive. Those are great qualities for a player.”
Sophomore Hailey Purcell had a career-high 12
points and eight rebounds. Freshman Morgan Leatherbury had 10 points for
HCC.
The Lady Dragons were 25 of 61 shooting
overall (41.0 percent) and just 4 of 10 from 3-point range. HCC hit 23 of 29
free throws.
Hutchinson outrebounded Scottsdale 48-34, including 17-10 on the offensive boards.
The Lady Dragons had just 16 turnovers and dished out 19 assists. Freshman
Lauren Sparks had eight assists and no turnovers.
Defensively, the Lady Dragons needed some
time to figure out Scottsdale’s offense. Artichoke guard Savannah Yonnie hit
five of her seven 3-point goals in the first half and finished with a
game-high 23 points. Forward Shayla Washington finished with 13 points and
six rebounds. Della Rhodes had 11 points.
Scottsdale (2-8) finished shooting 23 of 58
overall (39.7 percent) and 8 of 20 from 3-point range. The Artichokes were 8
of 16 from the free-throw line and committed 23 turnovers.
“They had some very athletic girls and we
didn’t know who could shoot the ball,” Schroer said of preparing for
Scottsdale. “They would drive it over the top, so we just had to figure it
out as we went.”
The Lady Dragons got off to a good start,
leading 11-3 just 3½ minutes into the game. Scottsdale went on a 9-0 run and
took a 12-11 lead with 14:10 to play. Leatherbury’s short jumper with 13:45
left gave HCC a 13-12 lead and wound up being the final lead change of the
game.
Leading 23-21 with 8:51 to go in the first
half, Hutch went on a 10-2 run and led 33-21, its largest lead of the first
half, with 4:58 to play on two Leatherbury field goals. After that, Yonnie
hit her fourth and fifth 3-pointers of the half and Washington became active
inside to lead the Artichokes on a 13-4 run to pull within 37-34 with 39
seconds left in the game. Briyana Evans sank two foul shots with 20 seconds
left and HCC led 39-34 at halftime.
“It was more that fact that we didn’t play in
12 days,” Fessenden said of the slow start. “You need to get back into game
shape. Scottsdale’s pretty good, but we came out really sluggish.”
Schroer scored the first six points of the
second half for HCC. Her free throws with 16:39 to play gave Hutch a 45-40
lead. Leading 45-42, Fessenden hit back-to-back treys to start a 14-5 run.
Sophomore Fairen Lepaio’s jumper with 10:07 left gave the Lady Dragons a
59-47 lead.
Scottsdale had one more run left. Yonnie hit
her only 3-pointers of the second half to key a 9-2 Artichoke run and pull
within five at 61-56 with 7:13 to play. But the Lady Dragon defense stepped
up, holding Scottsdale scoreless for 5 minutes, 26 seconds. Hutchinson
scored 11 unanswered points and led 72-56 with 2:24 to play on a Lepaio
bucket.
The Lady Dragons will close out their trip to
Arizona with a 5 p.m. CT game against Glendale Community College on Friday.
GAME NOTES
– With his 10th coaching victory at HCC, John Ontjes moved past Alicia
Arbuckle for fifth place on the HCC career coaching wins list. … This was
the third-straight game that the Lady Dragons have forced 20 or more
turnovers. … Amanda Fessenden has now hit 15 consecutive free throws, three
off the school record of 18 that she set earlier this season. … The Lady
Dragons have yet to allow an opponent to shoot better than 50 percent this
season. … The starting lineup of Kylee Naccarato, Hailey Purcell, Amanda
Fessenden, Amber Schroer and Lauren Sparks is now 8-3. … Sparks’ eight
assists is a team season high. … The seven 3-point goals by Savannah Yonnie
were the most against HCC this season. The previous high was five by
Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa’s Amy Pryor.
<HCC-SCOTTSDALE
BOXSCORE>
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On his overall comments on the game …
“The game was a five-point game at halftime
and it was back-and-forth early in the second half. They decided to go zone
and Amanda hit a couple of threes and it broke the game open right there.
Defensively we locked down late in the game and stopped fouling and did a
better job of defensive rebounding.”
On Amber Schroer’s breakout game. …
“She gets frustrated when things don’t go her
way and she gets down on herself and I think that’s what bothers Amber the
most. She does some great things for us on the floor. When she’s not
scoring, she a great defender. With her ability to make some baskets, it
takes some pressure off of our offense.”
“On cutting down the turnovers …
“We are string to make better decisions with
the basketball. Lauren Sparks had eight assists and no turnovers. She’s
starting to run the team. She’s starting to run the team and settle into her
role. She did a wonderful job tonight.”
Sophomore Amber Schroer
On not playing for 12 days …
“It’s been quite a while since we’ve played,
so the first half we got adjusted. We didn’t know anything about the team
that we were playing, so that was tough. But we did a good job.”
On breaking out of her shooting slump …
“It was really relieving. I started to relax
because they were falling for once. It’s been a rough time and it’s been
frustrating so I just let all that out in this game.”
Sophomore Amanda Fessenden
On not knowing a lot about Scottsdale …
“We didn’t know their personnel or their
shooters. You have to adjust during the game.”
On her second-half 3-pointers …
“Those threes got us going. It gave us
momentum and it was a team effort to get the win.” |
