|
By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Friday, March 6, 2009
WICHITA – The Hutchinson
Community College women’s basketball team ended 22 years of frustration in
the Region VI Tournament with a 65-51 quarterfinal victory over Cowley
College on Friday at Charles Koch Arena.
The Lady Dragons snapped a
12-game losing streak in the quarterfinals, advancing to the Region VI
semifinals for the first time since 1987. Hutchinson will take on
Independence at 3 p.m. Sunday in the second semifinal. Independence upset
Jayhawk West champion Barton late Friday night.
Hutchinson (28-4) also broke
a school record with its 28th victory of the season, surpassing the 1990 and
2002 teams.
“It’s a great feeling for
our program and for our kids,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “We’ve
battled hard all year long. We played against a team that had won 12
straight and was playing great basketball. We went out and executed
everything we talked about the last two days.”
Added freshman Naudia
Campbell: “It feels great. This is a pretty big win for us. It’s been a lot
of years since we went to the semifinals.”
The Lady Dragons also
snapped a six-game regional losing streak to Cowley (24-8). Hutchinson held
the Tigers to 27.9 percent shooting and just 3 of 14 from long range. HCC
held Cowley to 24.8 percent in the second half as the Lady Dragons outscored
the Tigers 37-29 in the final 20 minutes.
Freshman Heather Robben hit
a season-high three 3-point goals and finished with a game-high 20 points to
lead the Lady Dragons.
Freshman Ariella McGhee
posted her sixth-straight double-double, finishing with 16 points and 12
rebounds with two steals and a blocked shot.
Campbell also had a
double-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, a season-high four assists and
three steals.
“Naudia was really strong
inside,” Ontjes said. “She did a great job of not getting into foul trouble,
getting some great rebounds and finishing some plays. A very solid
performance by Naudia.”
The Lady Dragons shot 46.7
percent overall (21 of 45), 8 of 17 from 3-point range and 15 of 24 from the
free-throw line against Region VI’s No. 1 defensive team. HCC survived 21
turnovers, but outrebounded Cowley 42-34.
Defensively, Hutchinson held
Cowley to 17 of 46 shooting, including 3 of 14 from 3-point range. The
Tigers were 14 of 17 from the free-throw line and had 14 turnovers.
The Lady Dragons held
leading scorer Elena Yankova to just nine points. Shirolacille Holloway led
the Tigers with 15 points. Gabrielle Curtis had 14 points.
“We want to keep winning,”
Robben said. “Individual stats don’t matter. It’s all about winning and
getting to the finals now, so we can go to nationals.”
With a slow pace, scoring
was at a premium early. There were three lead changes and three ties in the
first 11˝ minutes. With Cowley leading 14-11 at the mid-point of the opening
half, freshman Sasha King provided a huge spark off the bench, hitting a
3-pointer to tie the game with 9:06 to play. Then Campbell scored inside to
give Hutch a 16-14 lead, a lead they never gave up again.
Those two baskets started a
14-2 HCC run and the Lady Dragons took a 25-16 lead on a Robben 3-pointer
with 4:34 to play. HCC scored just three points in the final four minutes,
but still led a 28-22 at halftime.
Ja’Neil Robinson’s free
throw with 14:08 to play got Cowley within 31-30, but HCC answered with a
Robben trey and a Briyana Evans steal and transition layup to go back up
36-30 with 12:47 to play. Robben’s fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Hutch a
48-40 lead, but Cowley cut that lead in half, getting two Holloway free
throws with 3:36 to go to cut the deficit to 48-44.
The Lady Dragons then went
on a 9-0 run over the next 1 minute, 54 seconds to finally break the game
open. McGhee’s inside hoop with 1:42 to play upped the Hutch lead to 59-47
with 59 seconds to play.
GAME NOTES
– HCC is now 32-30 all time in Region VI play. … HCC is now 17-22 all time
vs. Cowley. … McGhee upped her single season and freshman rebounding record
to 324. … Robben jumped from 11th to seventh in single-season scoring with
480 points. She moved up to third in single-season free-throw percentage at
85.6 percent. … Robben is now second on the freshman scoring list (480),
fourth on the freshman scoring list (15.0 ppg), second on the freshman free
throw list (113), seventh on the freshman 3-point list (49). … HCC is now
17-22 all time vs. Cowley. … McGhee posted her 15th double-double of the
season. Campbell had her seventh double-double. … Robben had her
third-straight 20- point game and eighth of the season.
BOXSCORE
PHOTO
GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On defending Cowley …
“The Yankova kid was the
most important kid on their team. We tried to keep the ball out of her
hands. She’s a very talented player and she makes her team go. Brittney
Chamberlin and Brittany Hines did a great job with our box-and-one on her.”
On Heather Robben …
“Her points were very quiet
tonight. She really wants the basketball when the game gets tight. She’s
going to make big plays for us when it counts.”
Freshman Heather Robben
On defeating Cowley …
“We never thought the game
was ours. We started hitting some shots and got some defensive stops. We
didn’t want anyone to take a bunch of threes and get back into the game. We
knew they would fight back. “
Freshman Naudia Campbell
On the physical play …
“There was a lot of banging
around going on, so I sucked it up.”
On winning the rebounding
battle …
“Rebounding was very
important. We noticed they got a lot of offensive rebounds on film, so
rebounding was very key.” |
