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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
SALINA – The Hutchinson
Community College women’s basketball team had a disappointing ending to its
first NJCAA Women’s Tournament appearance in 32 years on Tuesday night at
the Bicentennial Center.
The seventh-seeded Lady
Dragons rallied from 12 points down to force overtime, but Marissa Carter
scored all eight of Shelton State’s points in overtime and the Buccaneers
defeated HCC 60-59 in an opening-round contest.
The Lady Dragons (30-5) will
play Middle Georgia (23-5) in a consolation game at 10 a.m. on Thursday
morning. Hutchinson still has a possibility to finish as high as seventh
place in the 2009 national tournament.
Freshman Heather Robben
became HCC’s all-time leading freshman scorer and moved into fifth place on
HCC’s single-season scoring list with a season-high 27 points.
But it was Shelton State’s
Carter, who hit a big 3-pointer to tie the game after HCC built a six-point
lead, who became the story of the game. She scored the Buccaneers’ final 10
points, taking over in the extra session.
With HCC trailing 60-57 with
less than 15 seconds to play, Robben drove to the hoop, but couldn’t
convert. Naudia Campbell got the offensive rebound and scored with 1.4
seconds to play to pull within one point, HCC was forced to foul and
couldn’t desperation shot off at the buzzer.
“The 3 was the first look,
but it didn’t work out that way,” Robben said. “Then we didn’t realize that
we needed a 3 at the end. It happens. It’s a hard way to lose. It’s rather
play like this than get blown out.”
“Our kids are thoroughly
disappointed,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “They thought they should
have won the game. It didn’t work out that way.
“We have an opportunity to
come out and continue to play or we lose and we are done. We have a
tremendous competitiveness on this team and I don’t see our team just giving
up. They are going to come out and compete and try to win.”
Robben was 10 of 11 from the
free-throw line and hit three 3-point goals to highlight her 27-point night,
the most for a Lady Dragon individual this season.
Freshman Ariella McGhee had
her 17th double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Campbell finished with 12 points and six rebounds.
Freshman Brittney Bell came
off the bench to score four points and swat a season-high four blocked
shots.
The Lady Dragons, who
suffered their lowest scoring half of the season with 20 points in the first
half, shot 32.3 percent for the game (20 of 62) and was 3 of 9 from 3-point
range. The Lady Dragons were 16 of 24 from the free-throw line.
HCC committed 14 turnovers,
but had several key miscues down the stretch. HCC outrebounded Shelton State
44-42.
Carter finished with a
game-high 21 points to lead Shelton State, the 10th seed which will play
second-seed Central Arizona in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night. Point
guard China Antoine had 15 points.
Shelton State shot 35
percent overall (21 of 60), including 8 of 22 from 3-point range and 10 of
16 from the free-throw line. The Buccaneers had 17 turnovers.
“It came down to making
shots and executing plays,” Bell said. They were hitting their shots and
ours were rimming out. We were playing hard. It comes down to who could make
shots.
HCC got off to a very slow
start, falling behind 5-0 just two minutes into the game and 24-12 with
10:28 to play in the opening half. The Lady Dragons started to settle down
and inched their way back into the game. A 6-0 run with baskets from Bell
and two from McGhee pulled Hutch within 25-20 with 2:29 to play. Shelton
State closed the half on a 5-0 run, getting a 3-pointer from Carter with 41
seconds left to take a 30-20 halftime lead.
Shelton State led 34-26 with
17:34 to play and didn’t score again for 6 minutes, 28 seconds. HCC scored
eight straight to tie the game at 34-all with 11:37 to play.
Trailing 44-38, Sasha King
hit two free throws, Bell scored inside and McGhee scored inside to tie the
game at 44-all with 5:24 to go. Two Robben free throws, another Bell bucket
and a Robben jumper gave HCC a 50-44 lead with 4:19 to go.
Hutch started having
turnovers problems after that and Shelton State quickly tied the game on
back-to-back 3-pointers by Antoine and Carter tied the score at 50-all with
2:13 to play.
HCC broke a 3:06 scoreless
drought when Campbell scored on a putback for a 54-52 lead with 1:23 to
play. Carter scored with 21 seconds left to tie the game. HCC had two good
looks at the end of regulation, but couldn’t get the shot to fall.
Robben opened the overtime
with a 3-pointer with 3:54 left, but a 3-pointer and two free throws by
Carter gave Shelton State a 57-55 lead with 1:45 to go. Campbell scored with
1:23 left to knot the score at 57-all, but HCC couldn’t get the needed stop
on the next possession and Carter scored on a drive to the hoop to grab the
lead for good at 59-57 with 1:01 to play in overtime.
GAME NOTES
– HCC is now 4-3 all time in the NJCAA Women’s Tournament. … HCC had its
seven-game winning streak snapped. … McGhee upped her single-season and
freshman rebounding record to 358, which is now 19th on the HCC
career rebounding list. … Robben is the sixth HCC player to score 500 points
in a season. … Robben tied K.C. Hilgenkamp for fifth on the freshman 3-point
list with 55. Robben had her seventh 20-point game of the season. … McGhee
had her 20th double-figure rebounding game.
BOXSCORE
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OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
On the last play of the
game …
“We were trying to get the
dribble hand-off and the on-ball screen. For not ever using it and executing
it at the end of the game, we had a pretty good shot. What a great job our
kids did in the second half.”
On the second-half
comeback …
“The second half, we guarded
and rebounded better. We were tight to start the game. I thought we competed
harder in the second half.”
On the role players …
“It was one of those things.
Our role kids had good minutes. Our whole team had good minutes at times
tonight. The basketball didn’t go in the hole when we needed it to.”
On losing the late
six-point lead …
“When we got up six, we
realized defensively and allowed them to hit back-to-back 3’s to tie the
score. We maybe thought the game was over when we were up six.”
Freshman Heather Robben
On what happened late in
regulation …
“You can’t turn the ball
over late in the game and they hit their shots. We didn’t take care of the
ball when we needed to.”
On playing the first game
at nationals …
“Everyone was nervous. You
don’t make it to nationals every year. Once we started playing, we started
playing regular.”
On how the team came back
in the second half …
“We went inside a couple of
times and got a couple of shots to fall. We were just trying to get the ball
to the hole and get back into the game.”
Freshman Brittney Bell
On playing the first game
at nationals …
“We were pretty nervous.
It’s our first nationals. There’s a lot of pressure. After you are in there,
you get over the first-time jitters.”
On the emotions of losing
a heartbreaker …
“This kills me. It’s hard
because you get so emotionally into the game. I thought we were going to be
able to pull it off. We got close, but we didn’t.” |
