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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Freshman Ariella McGhee had
18 points and nine rebounds as the No. 18 Hutchinson Community College
women’s basketball team extended its winning streak to seven games after a
69-51 Jayhawk West victory over Butler on Wednesday night at the Sports
Arena.
The Lady Dragons are now
23-3 overall, matching the second-best record in program history through 26
games. HCC is now 10-2 in the Jayhawk West, which is the ninth time in
program history to have double-digit conference wins. The 23 wins are also
tied for fourth most in program history.
Hutchinson remains tied for
first place in the Jayhawk West with Barton, which defeated Garden City on
Wednesday night. Cloud County was idle and is one-half game behind.
Hutchinson travels to Barton next Wednesday night.
Despite a sluggish offensive
game, the Lady Dragons were once again stingy on defense.
Hutchinson held Butler to
just four field goals in the first half and limited the Grizzlies (13-12,
5-6) to 22.4 percent from the field (11 of 49), which is the third-straight
game and the ninth time in the last 11 games that the Lady Dragons have held
an opponent to less than 30 percent shooting. The Grizzlies were 3 of 15
from 3-point range.
Butler primarily stayed in
the game at the free-throw line. The Grizzlies were 15 of 21 at the line in
the first half and trailed just 32-24 at halftime despite shooting a meager
17.4 percent in the first 20 minutes. Butler was 26 of 37 at the line for
the game. HCC was just 10 of 21 from the stripe.
“In the first half we got in
extreme foul trouble,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “There was no flow
to the game. We did get off to a good start, then we kind of relaxed. We had
too many turnovers at halftime and we put them to the foul line.”
Added sophomore Brittany
Hines: “One of our biggest weaknesses is how much we foul. We talked about
that at halftime. If we wouldn’t have fouled, they probably wouldn’t have
been in the game with us. We have to learn to guard without fouling.”
McGhee was 9 of 13 shooting
to finish with 18 points. She also had three steals and two assists to lead
the Lady Dragons.
Hines finished with 13
points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals. Freshman Heather Robben
had 10 points and three steals. Freshman Naudia Campbell and Brittney
Chamberlin had eight points each.
The Lady Dragons were 27 of
63 shooting (42.9 percent) and was 5 of 16 from 3-point range. The Lady
Dragons turned the ball over 24 times, but outrebounded Butler 48-37.
No Butler player scored in
double figures. Alysia Hart had nine points and Lindsay Handcox had eight
for the Grizzlies, who had 22 turnovers.
HCC shot out to an 11-1 lead
after 5 1/2 minutes, but despite holding Butler to just one field goal in
the game’s first 15 minutes, 6 seconds, Hutch led just 21-15. That lead was
trimmed to just three after a Hart 3-pointer with 4:54 to play in the half.
Hutch got a couple of inside hoops from Campbell and a Lauren Sparks
3-pointer to build a 32-22 lead with 43 seconds left. Jacque Dean scored for
Butler with 18 seconds left in the half to cut the Hutch lead to 32-24 at
the break.
Hutchinson’s second-half
lead fluctuated anywhere from eight to 12 points over the first two-thirds
of the second half. When Butler’s Raneisha Hunter scored with 6:57 to play,
Hutch led 54-44. That basket also turned out to be Butler’s final field goal
of the game.
HCC limited the Grizzlies to
seven free throws over the final 6:57 and outscored Butler 15-7 down the
stretch to close out the game and complete the season sweep of the
Grizzlies.
“Butler was very good
defensively,” Ontjes said. “We were passive. We didn’t play strong. We
didn’t screen really well. But we got the job done.”
The Lady Dragons will have
their second conference bye on Saturday before traveling to Barton at 6 p.m.
next Wednesday at the Barton Gym.
GAME NOTES
– The Region VI championship team of 1976-77 was 26-0 through 26 games. …
HCC tied the 2001-02 team with 23 wins in 26 games. … HCC is now 41-26 vs.
Butler and 21-11 vs. Butler at the Sports Arena. … HCC has won four straight
games in the series. … Sparks had one 3-pointer and is now tied for 12th on
HCC’s career 3-point list with 58. .. McGhee now has 250 rebounds, which
moves her into 10th place on the single-season rebounding list. … HCC is
14-2 at home this season. … This was the 14th time this season that the Lady
Dragons have held an opponent to less than 30-percent shooting. … HCC had a
season-low 47.6 percent effort from the free-throw line. … HCC led Butler
16-4 in second-chance points and 22-14 in points off of turnovers. … Robben
moved into 10th place on the HCC freshman scoring list with 377 points.
BOXSCORE
PHOTO GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On all the fouls …
“Our fouls came from being
out of position. We weren’t moving our feet and we were using our hands.”
On any fatigue the team
may have …
“Our team shouldn’t be
tired. We haven’t been going for long stretches in practice and that might
be my fault. At this time of the year, we should be sharper and executing
better than ever. What disappointed me most tonight was our execution.”
Freshman Ariella McGhee
On Butler’s style of play
…
“They play with a lot of
intensity. We had to match that intensity.”
Sophomore Brittany Hines
On recovering from a
tough offensive first half …
We did have a rough first
half, but we got it together. We had more intensity in the second half. They
are one of the best rotating defenses in the conference and I think we
handled that really well. We had a lot of good penetration and we finally
out-hustled them in the second half. |
