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By Steve Carpenter
HCC Sports Information Director
Friday, November 7, 2008
Freshman Heather Robben
posted a double-double in her collegiate debut to lead the Hutchinson
Community College women’s basketball team to an easy 80-33 victory over the
McPherson College Junior Varsity in the 2008 Grand Prairie Hotel Women’s
Classic and the 2008-09 season opener on Friday night at the Sports Arena.
Robben scored eight points
in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half and finished with game highs
of 14 points and 13 rebounds.
“Good way to start the year
for Heather Robben,” HCC head coach John Ontjes said. “She was very solid
for us. She was the only one who rebounded for us in the first half. She had
a solid game for us. She made some baskets and did a good job of rebounding
on the defensive end.”
Added Robben: “The first
half I was really nervous, but things got getter and in the second half I
just picked it up.”
Sophomore Brittany Hines hit
6 of 7 shots and finished with 13 points. Freshman Ariella McGhee had 10
points and five rebounds despite playing most of the game in foul trouble.
Freshman Sasha King finished with nine points, as did freshman Naudia
Campbell. Sophomore Lauren Sparks had seven points and six assists.
Nine different Hutchinson
players scored in the game.
The Lady Dragons (1-0) shot
43.7 percent from the field (31 of 71), but hit only 3 of 17 from the
free-throw line. Hutchinson had 16 turnovers, with only four miscues in the
second half.
HCC outrebounded McPherson
45-41, but needed a big second-half turnaround on the boards to produce a
plus margin. HCC was a minus-four rebounding in the first half, including
giving up seven offensive rebounds. The Lady Dragons outrebounded the
Bulldogs (0-1) 26-18 in the final 20 minutes and allowed just four offensive
boards.
“We didn’t know what to
expect because we didn’t have film on them,” Hines said. “We just wanted to
come out and play hard no matter what and we pretty much did.”
The Lady Dragons were solid
defensively, especially in the opening half. HCC held McPherson to just 3 of
21 shooting and just 12 points in the opening 20 minutes. For the game,
McPherson shot 24.0 percent (12 of 50) and 3 of 9 from 3-point range. The
Bulldogs were just 6 of 17 from the free-throw line. They turned the ball
over 32 times.
Kelsey Hempe had nine points
and six rebounds to lead McPherson. Brandi Florian had seven points.
“Our kids were very
unselfish tonight,” Ontjes said. “We made the extra pass and we played hard.
We have to play a little smarter defensively. We can’t afford to be in foul
trouble.”
The Bulldogs had plenty of
fight early. Jamie Teeter’s 3-pointer with 17:56 to play gave the Bulldogs a
6-5 lead. But the Lady Dragons’ full-court press started to take effect and
keyed a 10-0 over the next 1:38 and led 14-5 after a Brittney Chamberlin
hoop with 16:18 to play in the opening half.
The HCC lead was only 19-10
with 6:38 to play, but closed the first half strong on an 11-2 run to lead
30-12 at halftime.
Robben went on her personal
eight-point run to start the second half. She drilled a 3-pointer, a pair of
two-pointers and a free throw to help Hutch to a 38-13 lead with 17:52 to
play in the second half.
McPherson found some
offensive success over the next seven minutes, going on an 11-3 run and
pulled within 46-28 after a Brooke Sloan 3-pointer with 10:48 to play. The
Lady Dragons then scored 21 unanswered points over the next 6 minutes to
lead 67-28 with 4:22 to play in the game.
HCC’s defense clamped down
on the Bulldogs, allowing just five points over the final 10 minutes, 48
seconds to play.
The Lady Dragons will play
Marshalltown, Iowa at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday to close out the women’s Grand
Prairie Hotel Classic. Marshalltown (3-0) defeated Brown Mackie 76-72 in the
opening game on Friday.
GAME NOTES
– Hutchinson is now 8-0 all-time vs. McPherson JV. … HCC is now 27-8 in
season openers and 31-4 in home openers. … The Lady Dragons scored 32 points
off 32 McPherson turnovers. … HCC had 17 steals, getting four each from
Sasha King and Briyana Evans. … The Hutchinson bench scored 34 points.
BOXSCORE
BROWN
MACKIE-MARSHALLTOWN BOXSCORE
HCC-MCPHERSON
COLLEGE PHOTO GALLERY
OTHER QUOTES
Head Coach John Ontjes
His overall thoughts …
“There were a lot of good
things that come about with this type of game, but there are some areas
where we need to improve on. We fouled too much and that’s because we aren’t
the right spots. We hope to improve our guarding without fouling.”
On the balanced scoring …
“There’s kids capable of
having 20 points nights. If we can be balanced and score from the inside and
the outside, it makes us tough to guard.”
Sophomore Brittany Hines
On the team’s overall
talent …
“We have a lot of good
shooters and we have some strong girls on the inside with a lot of talent.
We have a lot of talent and we are athletic.”
Freshman Heather Robben
On what the team will
have to improve on for Saturday’s game …
We are going to have to pick
up our defense and box out better and get the rebounds. We are going to have
to close out better. Marshalltown has some good shooters. |
