HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The No. 1-ranked Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team picked up a 71-65 win over No. 21 Butler on Saturday in the Sports Arena to keep its unbeaten season alive.
The Blue Dragons are now 25-0 overall, 19-0 in Jayhawk Conference play, the 15th time in program history accomplishing that feat. The win also was No. 1,100 in program history, which dates back to the 1974-75 season.
Butler (19-6, 13-6) led 18-10 after the first quarter and 33-26 at halftime. The Grizzlies led by as many as 10 points in the game, happening three times throughout the first half.
Hutchinson came out strong in the second half, pulling within three 42 seconds into the second half. The Blue Dragons then went on an 8-0 run to grab the 38-36 lead, its first lead since 5-4 early in the game.
The Blue Dragons and Grizzlies would go back-and-forth for a majority of the third frame, as Butler took the 48-46 lead into the fourth quarter.
HutchCC outscored Butler in the fourth quarter, 25-17, 15 of the 25 points scored by the Blue Dragons came from the free-throw line, where Hutchinson knocked down 15-of-19 attempts.
The Blue Dragons did have to battle some adversity in the fourth quarter, as starter Monae Duffy and reserve Bree Horyna each fouled out, nearly 30 seconds apart from each other with just over six minutes to play.
Hutchinson finished 27-of-38 at the free-throw line, while Butler went 17-of-27. The Blue Dragons shot 41 percent from the floor, while the Grizzlies hit 39 percent of their shots.
Kiki Smith led the way for the Blue Dragons with a game-high 29 points, 10 of which came from the foul line, where she finished 10-of-13. Journey Armstead was the only other HutchCC player in double figures, scoring 15.
Randi Harding led the Grizzlies with 21 points, while Freddie Wallace finished with 15.
Hutchinson will travel to Goodland on Wednesday to face Northwest Kansas Tech for a 6:30 p.m. central time tip off.