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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Saturday, February 28, 2009
The Hutchinson Community
College freshmen came up big on Saturday to help the Lady Dragon sophomores
win the 50th game of their careers on Sophomore Night.
Freshman Heather Robben
scored 25 points and freshman Ariella McGhee posted her 13th double-double
of the season to power Hutchinson to an 80-74 Jayhawk West finale victory
over Cloud County on Saturday at the Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons (26-4, 13-3
Jayhawk West) tied the 1990 and 2002 teams for the most regular-season
victories in program history. The Lady Dragons finished tied for second in
the Jayhawk West, their best league finish since the 2002 season. The 2009
Lady Dragons tied the 1998 team for the most league wins in program history.
For Lady Dragon sophomores
Brittany Hines, Lauren Sparks, Briyana Evans and Kylee Naccarato, this group
of sophomores captured its 50th victory at Hutchinson, the most wins for any
sophomore class in program history.
“I can’t express what our
sophomores have done for our program,” said HCC head coach John Ontjes, who
also captured his 50th coaching win at HCC. “I’m very proud of them. They
have really grown up and matured and have continued to be great individuals
throughout the year. They have become great role models and leaders for our
freshman.”
The Lady Dragons defeated
Cloud County (25-5, 12-4) for the fourth consecutive time, doing so with
their entire group of post players in foul trouble.
HCC trailed 33-27 with 2:48
left in the first half. By that time, starting center Naudia Campbell had
two fouls and didn’t play for much of the first half and backup posts
Brittney Bell and Calli Mathews were both strapped with four fouls.
The Lady Dragons trailed
38-33 at halftime, but outscored Cloud County 47-36 in the second half to
post their third come-from-behind win after trailing at halftime this
season.
Robben tied her season high
with 25 points to lead the Lady Dragons. Robben had a season-high 10 field
goals on 12 attempts and was 3 of 4 from the 3-point line.
McGhee had 16 points and 14
rebounds for her 13th double-double of the season. McGhee also moved into
second place on the HCC single-season rebounding list, just one rebound away
from Sherry Dishman’s record of 301 set in 1984.
Freshman Brittney Chamberlin
also had a season-high 16 points, hitting 8 of 10 free throws, and a huge
3-pointer with 1:01 to play to give the Lady Dragons a 77-71 lead.
“They stepped up and made
plays,” Ontjes said of the freshmen. “They adjusted well at halftime and we
got off to a great start. Our kids were patient in the second half. It was a
good job for 40 minutes.”
Added Chamberlin: “We all
stepped up. Coach has been harping on us to take the Pratt game and this
game and act like this is the region tournament. This was a good game to get
momentum going into it. We stepped up and played really well.”
The Lady Dragons had their
second-best shooting percentage of the season, shooting 59.1 percent overall
(26 of 44), including 5 of 7 from 3-point range and 23 of 40 from the
free-throw line. The Lady Dragons outrebounded Cloud County 38-36, but
committed 23 turnovers.
“You have to step up in big
games and we did,” Robben said.
Cloud County center Kara
Champlin scored 26 points, the most against HCC this season, to lead the
Thunderbirds. Carolyn Blair-Mobley had 19 points.
The Thunderbirds were only
the third team to shoot better than 40 percent against Hutch this season,
shooting 41.9 percent (26 of 62). Cloud was 7 of 21 from 3-point range and
15 of 31 from the free-throw line.
Hutchinson jumped out to
leads of 8-1 and 18-11 in the first half before Cloud County’s inside game
started to cause foul problems for HCC. A 9-2 T-Bird run tied the game at
20-all after two Champlin free throws. Then an 11-3 run helped Cloud take
its largest lead of 33-27 with 2:48 to play after an Emily Dwerlkotte trey.
The Lady Dragons survived
the late first-half momentum and trailed 38-33 at halftime.
Campbell was the difference
maker to start the second half for Hutchinson. She scored five points as
Hutch started the second half on a 7-0 run to take a 40-38 lead with 18
minutes to go. Then tied at 44-all, Campbell scored again to give HCC the
lead for good with 16:01 to play.
That Campbell score sparked
a 12-2 Lady Dragon run that pushed the HCC lead to 56-46 with 13:22 to play
after two Sasha King free throws.
From that point, the Lady
Dragons answered every Cloud County run.
After jumping out to a
10-point lead, HCC was staggered by a 7-0 T-Bird run to pull within 56-53
with 10:53 to play. Back to back inside hoops by McGhee pushed the Lady
Dragon lead back to 65-56 with 8:40 to go.
With HCC leading by eight
with 2:25 to play, Blair-Mobley hit a 3-pointer and another two-pointer to
pull Cloud within 74-71 with 1:19 to play. Chamberlin answered that
challenge with a knee-buckling 3-pointer with 1:01 to play to give HCC a
77-71 lead. The game never got back to a one-possession game after that.
The Lady Dragons will play
Neosho County in a first-round Region VI contest at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the
Sports Arena.
GAME NOTES
– HCC is 16-2 at the Sports Arena this season, which tied a team record for
home victories. … HCC is now 27-22 all time vs. Cloud County, 11-10 at the
Sports Arena. … John Ontjes is the second fastest HCC coach to win 50 games.
He won his 50th in 62 games. Larry Brin won 50 in 59 games. … Robben jumped
six spots to 16th on HCC’s single-season scoring list and three spots to
fifth on the freshman scoring list with 437 points. … Lauren Sparks moved
into 14th place on HCC’s career assist list with 183. Sparks had a team-high
six assists. … This was the ninth time this season that HCC has shot 50
percent or better, the first time in 10 games. … This was the first time in
nine games to score 80 points. … The 80 points vs. Cloud County is the most
scored vs. the T-Birds since 1999 when HCC scored 96 points. … Campbell tied
a season high with four steals.
BOXSCORE
PHOTO
GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On Naudia Campbell’s play
early in the second half …
“Naudia made some plays
early in the second half that got the lead back for us. The key was for her
to stay out of foul trouble and be able to defend and rebound late in the
game.”
On defeating Cloud in the
regular-season finale …
“It gives us some momentum
to go into the postseason. The game was a Region VI atmosphere. It was high
intensity and every possession counts. Our kids are competitors and they are
playing well right now. We need to continue doing what we are doing.”
Freshman Heather Robben
On what the sophomores
have meant this season …
“They have meant a lot. They
helped us out at the beginning of the year when we didn’t know anything.
They helped us learn to get where we are right now. They were leaders and
are inspiration. They want to get to the national tournament, so it’s more
drive for us to get them there.”
On HCC’s post defense …
“We just tried to not let
them back the posts down. We started fronting and we doubled them. It’s hard
to get them to miss. We did a good job.”
Freshman Brittney
Chamberlin
On what the sophomores
have meant this season …
“With Kylee out, they
stepped up big. They showed us what hard work means. Going into the big
games, they knew what to expect and they pushed us freshman to do better and
to work hard.” |
