DRAGONS LOOK FOR REBOUND PERFORMANCE

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Even three days after the game, Wednesday's 56-48 loss to Garden City is perplexing the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team.

Coming off back-to-back 90-plus point games, the Blue Dragon scored two points in the first quarter on 1 of 13 shooting and never recovered against the Broncbusters.

Now two games out of first place in the Jayhawk Conference with six games to play, the Blue Dragons will try to avoid a losing streak when the Butler Grizzlies come to the Sports Arena at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and on sister stations KWBW-AM and FM (1450/98.5) at 5:20 with Glen Grunwald (play-by-play) and Rusty Hilst (analysis) calling the action. The game will also be streamed on the Blue Dragon Sports Network (which can be found at www.bluedragonsports.com) at 5:20 p.m.

Entering play on Saturday, the Blue Dragons are in a three-way tie for second place with Cowley and Independence. The Blue Dragons own victories over both teams, but they will have home games against each team down the road. With Saturday's loss, odds on winning the conference became increasingly long. Hutch is two games out of first and Seward County owns the tie-breaker with Hutchinson.

There has been one constant thread to the Blue Dragons this season – turnovers. Hutchinson is averaging 19 turnovers per game. Hutch has eight games of 20 or more turnovers and two of 30 or more. Against Garden City, the Dragons were outscored 20-7 in points off turnovers.

The other glaring stat was Hutchinson's 4 of 17 free-throw shooting.

The Blue Dragons will be looking to sweep the Grizzlies this season. Hutchinson defeated Butler 59-53 on December 6 at the Power Plant in El Dorado.

Hutch led by 17 points with 2:44 to play in the third quarter only to see the Grizzlies make it a one possession game with 5 seconds remaining. The Dragons scored only two field goals in the final 13 minutes, 30 seconds and didn't have a field goal for the final 9:20 of the contest. The Dragons missed 13 free throws, including nine in the fourth quarter. Hutch committed 13 of their 23 turnovers in the second half.

With the lead down to 55-53 with 18 seconds to play after Butler's Awreona Ransom scored, the Blue Dragons missed two free throws giving the Grizzlies a chance to tie or take the lead. Butler's Erika Mattingly drove to the basket and had Coretta Hopkins step in to take a charge with 5.5 seconds to play. The Dragons hit 3 of 6 free throws in the final 5.5 seconds to finally seal the victory.