|
By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Hutchinson Community
College women’s basketball team shot its second-best field-goal percentage
of the season and held Barton to just 34 percent from the field, but the
Cougars walked out of the Sports Arena on Wednesday night with a
come-from-behind 67-65 Jayhawk West victory over the Lady Dragons.
The final seven minutes were
nightmarish for Hutchinson (16-3, 3-2 Jayhawk West), which had hits
three-game winning streak snapped.
Leading 61-60 after a Sasha
King 3-pointer with 6:59 to play, the Lady Dragons went through a stretch
where they committed four straight turnovers, gave up four offensive
rebounds and gave Barton an extra chance after a missed free throw with a
lane-violation. The Lady Dragons went scoreless for 6 minutes, 38 second and
had just one field goal in the final seven minutes.
Barton didn’t exactly take
full advantage of the Lady Dragon dry spell, but built enough of a lead –
67-61 with 25 seconds left – to win their fourth-straight game and extend
their winning streak over HCC to seven games.
“That stretch from the
7-minute mark to the 3-minute mark where we turned it over four straight
times and we also gave up four offensive rebounds was the difference in the
game,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “They were tougher than us tonight.
They made plays down the stretch and our kids play tentatively.”
While Barton (14-6, 4-2)
shot just 33.9 percent overall (19 of 56), the Cougars did hit seven 3-point
field goals and dominated the game in two other areas.
Barton outrebounded HCC
41-26, grabbing 23 offensive rebounds. The Cougars also shot 22 of 36 from
the free-throw line to just 6 of 9 for HCC. In the second half, Barton was
18 of 26 from the stripe. HCC was just 2 of 4.
“They wanted it more than we
did,” freshman Heather Robben said. “They got all the rebounds. We didn’t
box out and we got pushed underneath the basket and couldn’t hold our ground
and didn’t go get the ball.”
Hutchinson led 37-33 at
halftime after shooting 51.6 percent and with only six turnovers. But
despite shooting 60 percent in the second half, Barton’s pressure defense
forced 15 HCC turnovers to score 22 of the Cougars’ 34 second-half points.
“We had to take care of the
basketball and we didn’t in the second half. We had 15 second-half
turnovers,” Ontjes said. “We really weren’t very good defensively. We didn’t
guard the 3-point line or guard the dribble. We got beat on numerous cuts.
We don’t seem to play well at home.”
Robben scored 16 of her
team-high 19 points in the opening half. Freshman Ariella McGhee had 16
points and seven rebounds. Freshman Naudia Campbell had nine points, while
sophomore Brittany Hines and King had eight points each.
Hutchinson shot 28 of 51
from the field (54.9 percent), but just 3 of 10 from 3-point range.
Barton was led by Kristine
Silaraja, who had 22 points, the most by any HCC opponent this season.
Courtney Sturdivant had 15 points, six rebound and five steals.
Barton was just 19 of 56
from the field (33.9 percent), but 7 of 21 from 3-point range. The Cougars
had 18 turnovers.
A Brittney Chamberlin
3-pointer with 12:32 to play in the opening half forced the fourth lead
change of the game to that point and gave HCC a 15-13 lead. The Lady Dragons
were able to stretch it out to as many as seven on a McGhee inside hoop with
6:24 to play and HCC led 27-20.
Robben scored the final
eight points of the first half for HCC, but Danielle Bird’s bucket with 3
seconds left in the half cut HCC’s halftime lead to 37-33.
HCC led 44-39 with 16:46 to
play when Barton went on an 11-2 run and led 50-46 after a Sturdivant free
throw with 12:56 to play. HCC countered with a 6-2 run to reclaim the lead
at 54-52 on a Campbell basket with 10:15 to play. A Hines layup with 8:35 to
play gave HCC a 58-54 lead.
From that point, Barton had
just two field goals, but completed the comeback with nine free-throws.
Trailing 67-62, King banked
in a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds remaining, but HCC couldn’t get a turnover
on the final possession of the game.
The Lady Dragons travel to
Colby for a 2 p.m. game on Sunday.
GAME NOTES
– HCC is now 18-51 all-time vs. Barton. The 51 losses are the most to any
single team in program history. … HCC is now 14-2 when leading at halftime
and 6-1 when shooting 50 percent or better. … HCC was outrebounded for the
second-straight time. … The Lady Dragons are averaging 17.2 turnovers in
conference play.
BOXSCORE
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On Barton’s pressure
defense …
“It’s an area where we’ve
struggled all year long. We’ve struggled when teams have pressed us. We have
to become better ball-handlers and better passers and it’s our job as
coaches to get them better at those things.”
On the rebounding
discrepancy …
“The rebounding is all about
heart and toughness. Tonight they got all the loose balls and rebounds. It
was the difference in the game.”
Freshman Heather Robben
On the second-half
collapse …
“We just didn’t care for the
ball at all. We worked on it in practice. We should have taken care of the
ball and we probably would have won.” |
