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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Saturday, February 7, 2009
GARDEN CITY – Freshman
Heather Robben led three players in double figures and the Lady Dragon
defense turned in another dominant effort as the 16th-ranked Hutchinson
Community College women’s basketball team defeated Garden City 62-46 on
Saturday night at the Perryman Athletic Complex.
The Lady Dragons (22-3, 9-2
Jayhawk West) held Garden City to 25-percent shooting (15 of 60), which is
the 13th time this season, including 5 of the last 6 games, that HCC has
held an opponent to less than 30 percent shooting.
“Right now we are moving
toward the peak of our defense,” sophomore Brittany Hines said. “I think we
can be stronger. Our concepts are really set on stone and we know what we
are going. It’s a really good feeling.”
Hutchinson remained in a
first-place tie in the Jayhawk West with Barton and Cloud County and
improved to 8-1 in road games this season. HCC won its sixth-straight game
and won for the seventh consecutive time against Garden City (9-15, 3-7).
The nine league victories
tie for the fifth-most Jayhawk triumphs in a season. The 22 overall wins
also tie for fifth most.
“Defensively we were alert,”
HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “We did a very good job on Katie Novack.
She had to work extremely hard for all of her 16 points Our kids got out and
tried to take the basketball out of her hands. I was very pleased with our
effort defensively.”
Robben had a team-high 18
points to lead the Lady Dragons. Sophomore Naudia Campbell posted her sixth
double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds with two steals.
Sophomore Lauren Sparks scored in double figures for the first time in seven
games with 10 points. Hines and freshman Brittney Chamberlin had seven
points each.
HCC shot 40.0 percent for
the game (22 of 55), going 3 of 13 from 3-point range and 15 of 19 from the
free-throw line. HCC had 22 turnovers.
The Lady Dragons
outrebounded Garden City 48-38. Freshman Ariella McGhee had a game-high 17
rebounds.
“They take so many 3s that
there area lot of long rebounds,” Ontjes said. “You have to make sure you
hit your man and move them because the ball’s going to come long. For the
most part, defensive rebounding was good. We had people on our backs and we
did a good job.”
HCC’s defense held one of
the best 3-point shooting teams in Region VI to just 4 of 17 from long
range. Garden City was also 12 of 20 from the free-throw line. The
Broncbusters committed 19 turnovers.
Novack did have four 3-point
goals and finished with 16 points. Deidre Mays came off the bench to score a
game-high 20 points.
Campbell sparked the Lady
Dragons’ initial 12-3 run over the first 5 1/2 minutes, scoring six points
all from close range. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Novack pulled Garden City
to within 18-13 with 11:31 to play in the half.
Robben then drilled a
3-pointer to halt that Buster run. Garden City then got within five (23-18)
before Robben went on a personal 7-0 run capped off by a Robben trey that
gave Hutchinson a 30-18 lead with 4:35 to play in the half.
Garden City pulled within
seven at 32-25 with 1:02 to play in the half, but a Chamberlin 3-pointer and
a Sparks layup with 1 second left on the clock gave HCC a 37-25 lead at
halftime.
Hutchinson scored the first
eight points of the second half to build a 45-25 lead with 14:49 left after
a Sparks field goal. Defensively, the Lady Dragons held Garden City to just
three points, including no field goals for the first 7:52 of the second
half.
The Lady Dragons scored just
10 points in the final 10 minutes, but the closest Garden City got was 14
points (60-46) with 36 seconds to play.
Hutchinson will play host to
Butler at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.
GAME NOTES
– McGhee now has 241 rebounds this season, which is tied for 11th (Amanda
Wolke) on the single-season rebounding list and is fifth on the HCC freshman
list. … McGhee also tied Sherry Dishman for first on the single-season
rebounding average list. … It was the fifth time this season that McGhee has
had 15 or more rebounds. … HCC is now 53-14 vs. Garden City and 23-10 in
Garden City vs. the Broncbusters. … The eight road victories tie for fourth
most in a single season. … This was the 14th time in 25 games that HCC has
had 20 or more turnovers. … McGhee also tied a season high with three
blocked shots.
BOXSCORE
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On the fatigue four games
in one week had on the team …
“We still played with a lot
of energy on defense. We weren’t very sharp offensively. Our bench play was
good. Kids came off the bench and have good minutes for us. Our bench has
been strong all season long. They know their roles.”
Sophomore Brittany Hines
On defending Garden
City’s Katie Novack …
“Brittney Chamberlin and I
did a pretty good job of containing her.”
Freshman Naudia Campbell
On rebounding …
“Coach said we needed to go
and get rebounds. We did pretty good, both offensively and defensively.”
On the defensive effort …
“The team is doing their
job. Everybody is contributing on both ends of the floor.” |
