HAYS, Kan. — The No. 9 Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team saw its Region VI Tournament run come to an end with a 45-42 loss to No. 20 Coffeyville on Friday at Gross Memorial Coliseum in the semifinals.
The Blue Dragons fall to 28-4 on the season and now await the NJCAA selection show, on Sunday at 5 p.m. to see if they'll receive an at-large bid into the national tournament.
Hutchinson got off to another sluggish start against the Red Ravens, the same thing that doomed them in a regular season loss at Coffeyville (26-5) last month.
The Blue Dragons fell behind 15-8 after the first quarter and then down 25-14 at halftime, the lowest scoring first half by HutchCC this season.
Coffeyville grew the lead to 15 points in the third frame, as Hutchinson continued to struggle against the Red Raven defense.
The Blue Dragons continued to battle back in the fourth quarter and pulled within three late.
Hutchinson had one final chance with four seconds to play trailing 45-42. Jada Pleasant inbounded from the left sideline, which deflected off of Katie Duncan's left hand, Duncan tracked down the ball and passed it back to Pleasant who missed the contested 3-pointer from the left-wing as time expired.
Duncan scored a team-high 11 points off the bench. Hailey Jackson, the Jayhawk Conference's leading scorer was held to just four points on 2-for-8 shooting.
The Blue Dragons shot just 31% from the floor and were outrebounded by seven.
Coffeyville was led by Norika Welch with 13 points, while Karliey Parker added 11. The Red Ravens will meet No. 7 Dodge City on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Region VI Tournament championship game.