DRAGON RALLY FALLS SHORT IN NJCAA OPENING ROUND

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

LUBBOCK, Texas – Ice-cold shooting in the first half doomed the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team in its NJCAA Tournament opening-round game against the San Jacinto Gators on Monday.

Shooting just 3 for 20 in the opening half, the No. 18-seeded Blue Dragons dug a hole too deep to climb out of as Hutchinson dropped its opening-round game 62-51 at the RIP Griffin Center.

The Blue Dragons close the 2017-18 season with a 27-7 overall record. San Jacinto (25-10) advances to play No. 2 overall seed Gulf Coast State on Tuesday in the second round of the NJCAA Tournament.

Hutchinson went on a 4 1/2-minute scoreless drought in the first quarter in which the Gators scored 10 unanswered points to lead 12-2. Hutch missed 11 of its first 12 shots with six turnovers to start the game. When Kelsey Brett scored on a backcut, the Dragons trailed 16-6. Hutch was down 18-6 after one period.

From that point, it was an uphill climb. The Dragons were only 1 of 8 shooting in the second quarter and trailed by as many as 15 points at 25-10 on an Alexus Jones 3-pointer with 4:01 to play in the second quarter. The Blue Dragons made only 1 of 8 shots in the second period and trailed 30-17 at halftime.

San Jac's lead was 47-36 after three quarters when the Dragons went on a 7-0 run to start the fourth quarter which was capped by Roebuck's steal, layup and three-point play with 8:33 to play that cut the Hutch deficit to 47-43. The Gators answered that challenge with an 8-0 run over the next 2 minutes, 43 seconds to reclaim control of the game. The Blue Dragons never drew closer than nine points for the remainder of the contest.

Roebuck led the Blue Dragons with her 14th double-double this season, going for a career-high 24 points and 12 rebounds. Roebuck was 7 of 14 shooting, nailing three 3-point goals.

Tia Bradshaw finished with 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting with a 3-pointer. Kelsey Brett finished with five points. Jada Mickens had four points.

The Blue Dragons closed the game shooting 16 of 46 (34.8 percent), hitting 5 of 25 from 3-point range and 14 of 21 from the free-throw line. The Dragons out-rebounded the Gators 34-27, but committed 16 turnovers.

San Jacinto dominated in the paint, outscoring Hutchinson 36-18.

Bryan finished with 19 points and Maddison Glass had 12 points with seven assists.

San Jacinto becomes just the third team in the John Ontjes era to shoot 50 percent in a game against Hutchinson, hitting 24 of 48 total shots. The Gators were 5 of 15 from 3-point range and 9 of 16 from the foul line.

NOTES – The Blue Dragons were making their eighth NJCAA Tournament appearance. The Dragons are now 17-10 all-time in the NJCAA Tournament. … This was the first time that Hutch and San Jacinto-North have played each other. The Blue Dragons did play San Jacinto-Central in 2013 and defeated the Ravens 87-46. … Hutchinson's 27 wins tie for the eighth most in program history with the 2001-02 and 2015-16 teams.