DRAGONS BEGIN STRETCH RUN AT ALLEN WEDNESDAY

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team travels to play the Allen Red Devils on Wednesday in Iola to open the final week of the regular season.

That stretch run will consist of three games, two on the road, in the next six days. That stretch run finds the No. 23 Blue Dragons – this week's rankings will be released Wednesday afternoon – within striking distance of second place in the Jayhawk Conference.

The Blue Dragons and Red Devils will play at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at the Allen Gym. The game was moved up three hours because of impending wintery weather that's supposed to start Wednesday evening.

The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) with Daren Dunn (play-by-play) and Glen Grunwald (analysis) calling the action at 2:50 p.m. The game will be videostreamed on the Blue Dragon Sports Network at 2:50 p.m.

A victory on Wednesday's sets up a huge showdown at the Sports Arena on Saturday against Independence. Hutchinson will close out the regular season at Dodge City on Monday.

After dropping two straight to fall as many as three games out of the lead in the Jayhawk, the Blue Dragons have rebounded nicely with decisive victories over Barton and Cowley last week. Against Barton, Hutchinson shot a season-high 53.8 percent in a 75-57 victory. Then on Saturday, the Blue Dragons held Cowley 29.5 points under its season-scoring average to win 67-45.

Hutchinson has gotten a big spark to its offense from freshman guard Kelsey Brett. Making her first two career starts in the last two victories, Brett has scored 12 and 14 points, respectively – back-to-back career highs – hitting a career-best four 3-pointers against the Tigers on Saturday at the Arena.

The Blue Dragons face a Red Devil team on a seven-game losing streak. Allen dropped a 61-52 decision at Dodge City on Saturday. Over the last three games the Red Devils are averaging only 46 points per game, while allowing 72.0 per game.

Hutchinson won the first meeting of the season with Allen, defeating the Red Devils 77-54 on January 6 at the Sports Arena. Jada Mickens had a huge game in the first meeting with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Alicia Brown had 16 points and Dejanae Roebuck had 12 points. The Blue Dragons shot 43.5 percent overall, but hit only two 3-pointers.

Jakira Wilson had 18 points to lead Allen.