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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Sunday, March 8, 2009
WICHITA – The Hutchinson
Community College women’s basketball team is headed to the Region VI
Tournament championship game for the first time in 31 years.
Ariella McGhee scored the
go-ahead basket with 13 seconds to play and then the Lady Dragons made a
final defensive stop as the Lady Dragons defeated Independence in a 63-62
thriller in the second Region VI semifinal on Sunday at Wichita State’s
Charles Koch Arena.
The Lady Dragons (29-4) will
play Seward County (28-5) in Hutchinson’s first regional championship
appearance since 1978 at 6 p.m. on Monday at Koch Arena.
“Independence stepped up and
made some big shots,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “They refused to lose
in the second half, but our kids had just enough toughness to get a stop and
get some rebounds and make a play at the end.”
Hutchinson led 37-22 with
17:23 left in the second half. The Lady Dragons then had to survive the
one-two 3-point shooting punch of Independence’s Rhea Codio and Kiara
Marshall. The Pirate guards combined for nine 3-pointers, six of them in the
second half. Independence (22-11) was 10 of 23 from 3-point range overall.
Marshall buried a 3-pointer
with 1:18 to play to give the Pirates a 62-61 lead. The Dragons then dodged
a bullet after turning the ball over with 1:00 to go. HCC’s defense forced a
shot clock violation on Indy’s next possession to set up its final offensive
possession.
The Lady Dragons nearly
turned the ball over, but freshman Sasha King regained possession. She drove
to the hoop and hit a cutting McGhee for a layup and a 63-62 lead with 13
seconds to play.
“When Sasha winked at me, I
knew to keep on going and she was going to dish it to me,” McGhee said. “I
just cut to the hoop and the ball was in my hands.”
On Indy’s final possession,
Codio got the ball in the left corner and drove the baseline. Naudia
Campbell stepped in to defend. There was contact, but no foul and the shot
hit the bottom of the backboard and McGhee rebounded the ball as the buzzer
sounded.
“We had to communicate. It
was pretty loud in the gym,” Campbell said. “I saw that girl coming over so
I tried to step over and take a charge. She went into me, the ball went up
and the game was over.”
McGhee posted her
seventh-consecutive double-double with 14 points and a team-high 15 rebounds
to lead the Lady Dragons. Campbell also had a double-double with 11 points
and 13 rebounds.
Heather Robben hit a pair of
3-pointers and finished with 12 points. Brittney Chamberlin also had two
3-point goals and finished with 10 points.
The Lady Dragons shot 45.5
percent from the field (20 of 44). HCC hit 5 of 12 3-point goals; all five
treys came in the first half. Hutch knocked down 18 of 22 from the
free-throw line.
Hutchinson dominated the
glass, outrebounding Independence 41-21, but turned the ball over 21 times.
Independence shot 39.3
percent (22 of 56) overall. The Pirates were 8 of 14 from the free-throw
line and turned the ball over 11 times.
Codio was 5 of 7 from
3-point range, 9 of 15 overall, to finish with a game-high 24 points to lead
the Pirates. Marshall hit 4 of 10 from the arc to finish with 16 points.
The Lady Dragons held Indy’s
inside players, the players who dominated play in an upset of top-seeded
Barton in the quarterfinals, to a combined 20 points on 7 of 25 shooting.
Sadie Webb had 12 points on 4 of 13 shooting, Brittany Johnson had six
points on 3 of 9 shooting and Tori Halverson was 0 of 3 from the field and
was held scoreless. Those three inside players also had a combined eight
rebounds.
“That’s our goal every game,
winning the toughness battle and win the rebounding battle,” Ontjes said.
HCC built a 33-19 halftime
lead, hitting 12 of 25 in the first half, while holding Indy to 8 of 26
shooting (30.8 percent). It was the Lady Dragons who were hitting 3-pointers
early. HCC was 5 of 9 from long range in the opening 20 minutes.
Chamberlin’s trey with 14:23 to play gave Hutch a 14-4 lead.
A Codio trey cut the lead to
six, but Briyana Evans came off the bench to spark the Lady Dragons again.
First she hit a pair of free throws and then scored in transition, and then
stole the ball and fed Chamberlin for a layup to up the HCC lead to 24-12
with 3:08 to go in the half.
Chamberlin hit a 3-pointer
with 45 seconds left to close out the half with a 14-point lead.
A pair of Brittany Hines
free throws with 17:33 to play gave Hutch its largest lead at 33-17. Then
the Pirates started executing offensively to get back into the game. The
Pirates shot 46.7 percent overall in the second half (14 of 30), including 7
of 14 from the 3-point line, to get back into the game. The Lady Dragons
maintained their double-figures lead throughout the first 10 minutes of the
second half, but Indy kept coming hard.
Two Marshall free throws
with 5:41 to play finally erased HCC’s 15-points lead and tied the game at
55-all with 5:41 to play. Lauren Sparks hit a pair of free throws gave Hutch
a 59-56 lead with 3:46 to play, but a Webb free throw tied the game at
59-all with 1:35 to play, setting up the wild finish.
GAME NOTES
– HCC recorded its record 29th victory of the season. … HCC is now 33-30 in
Region VI play, 3-2 in semifinals and 3-5 vs. Independence in Region VI
play. … The sophomores won their record 53rd game. … McGhee upped her
single-season and freshman rebounding records to 337 rebounds. … Robben
jumped up to sixth on the single-season scoring list with 492 points. …
Robben moved up to sixth on the freshman 3-point list with 51. … HCC is now
19-11 all time vs. Independence. … McGhee posted her 16th double-double of
the season. … Campbell had her eighth double-double.
BOXSCORE
PHOTO GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On the final offensive
play of the game …
“The play actually broke
down. We gave it back to Sasha and she penetrated. Ariella was in the right
spot and it worked out our way.”
On battling through
Indy’s second-half rally …
“Our kids remained calm the
whole game. Our team was trying to find some energy and in that intense of a
basketball game, it’s draining. The kids found enough energy at the end of
the game to keep the basketball from getting to the rim and go and rebound
it.”
Freshman Naudia Campbell
On Indy’s second-half
rally …
“They were executing. They
hit huge 3-pointers. We had to keep our composure. We didn’t let those shots
get us down. Independence was a really good team. That was a good battle.”
On advancing to the title
game …
“This is great. I haven’t
played for two years because of a knee injury. I’m just excited to play.”
Freshman Ariella McGhee
On advancing to the title
game …
“It was amazing. I don’t
know what to say. I am speechless. Making it to the championship is an
exciting thing to do.”
On Indy’s second-half
rally …
“They were stepping up
hitting shots. We had to match their intensity, hit our own shots and get to
the free-throw line and make those too.”
On dominating the boards
…
“We have big girls who take
it to the hole. We can match their intensity. We had to box out and go get
the rebounds.”
On the emotions during
the game …
“You can’t get nervous in
these types of games. You have to keep on going. Hopefully all of your shots
will fall and you get every rebound. You can’t be nervous.” |
