Mar 29, 2021

Blue Dragon Women grind out win over Garden City

Posted Mar 29, 2021 10:34 AM

By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The No. 21-ranked Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team put together its best defensive effort of the Jayhawk Conference season and inched closer to the Jayhawk West title.

The Blue Dragons used that defensive effort to rally from an early eight-point deficit to defeat Garden City 54-42 on Saturday night at the Sports Arena.

Winners of six-straight games, the Blue Dragons improve to 17-3 overall and 16-3 in the Jayhawk West. The Blue Dragons lead second-place Seward County by 1.5 games with two games to play. Third-pace Barton trails by two games. Hutchinson travels to Barton on Monday night.

The Blue Dragons held an opponent to less than 30 percent shooting for the sixth time this season, limiting the Broncbusters (10-10, 9-10 Jayhawk West) to 28.3 percent from the field (13 of 46). That included 2 of 21 from 3-point range and Garden City turned the ball over 16 times.

Garden City led 18-13 after the first quarter, but the Blue Dragons allowed only seven field goals over the final 30 minutes of the game, limiting the Busters to 21.9 percent shooting after the first quarter.

Kalyn Ervin hit a 3-pointer with 1:41 to play in the first quarter to take a 13-12 lead. The Busters answered with a 9-0 run and took a 21-13 lead after a Kealani Neves 3-pointer with 9:18 to play in the second quarter.

Katarina Zagorac's field goal with 5:33 to play in the second quarter gave the Busters a 25-21 lead. Those were the final points of the half for Garden City. The Blue Dragons went through their own scoring dry-spell that lasted 4 minutes, 52 seconds. That streak was snapped by an Ervin free throw with 1:52 to play in the second quarter. An Ervin steal and layup tied the game and the Dragons wound up with a 27-25 lead at halftime when Lojong Gore scored with 50 seconds remaining.

Aerihna Afoa scored on Garden City's first possession of the third quarter to tie the game at 27. That was Garden City's only field goal of the third quarter. K.K. Adams hit a 3-pointer on Hutch's next possession and the Blue Dragons had the lead for good, albeit only 36-30 after three quarters, holding Garden City to an opponent-low five points in the third period.

Leading 42-36, the Blue Dragons finally put the Busters away over the final 5:15 of the game. Gore's inside hope with 5:15 left upped the lead to eight. The Dragons achieved their first double-figure lead at 47-36 on an Ishante Suttington layup. The Dragons outscored Garden City 14-6 over the final 5:15 to finish off a season-series sweep.

The Blue Dragons finished shooting 40.9 percent (18 of 44), hitting 7 of 19 from 3-point range and 11 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Ervin scored a game-high 13 points to lead the Blue Dragons. Tor'e Alford had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. Suttington had 10 points and four rebounds.

The Blue Dragons were out-rebounded 33-31, but committed only 12 turnovers.

Justis Odom had 11 points for Garden City. Neves, who had 22 points in the first game on March 6 at Garden City, was limited to nine points.

GAME NOTES â€“ The previous Jayhawk Conference defensive low by the Blue Dragons was 44 points scored by Cloud County on February 6. … This was Hutchinson's seventh win in a row against Garden City. The Blue Dragons are now 74-19 all-time against Garden City. … This was the 31st time in the 93-game history between Hutchinson and Garden City that the Blue Dragons held the Busters to less than 50 points. … The Dragons are 4-2 when being out-rebounded in a game this season.