DRAGONS ROLL IN 2ND HALF TO DEFEAT SWEDES

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College Women's Basketball team took a while to get going, but get going the No. 4 Blue Dragons did on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons turned up the defensive heat to ignite a slumbering offense and wound up rolling to a 77-27 victory over the Bethany College Junior Varsity in a non-conference matchup.

The Blue Dragons improve to 13-1 overall, going 8-1 in non-conference play. Hutchinson returns to KJCCC play on Saturday when it plays at Cowley College at 5:30 p.m. in Arkansas City.

Hutchinson won its eighth game in a row and improves to 34-0 all-time against Bethany College.

Hutchinson shot 36 percent in the opening half, but still comfortably led Bethany 34-18 at halftime. The second half was a much different story as top defensive team in the Jayhawk Conference showed why it has that lofty ranking.

Bethany was limited to an opponent season-low nine points in the second half and just two points in the fourth quarter, another opponent low against Hutchinson. The Swedes were limited to 3 of 20 shooting and the Blue Dragons forced 20 second-half turnovers.

Hutch outscored Bethany 27-7 in the third quarter alone and 43-9 in the second half altogether.

Sophomore Makayla Vannett scored a game-high 22 points, knocking down 6 of 11 from 3-point range. Vannett brings her 3-point goal season total to 53 and career total to 146 (sixth most in Hutchinson history). She added six rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Sophomore Abby Ogle knocked down a career-high four 3-pointers and finished with 19 points. Earlier on Wednesday, Ogle was named the NJCAA National Player of the Week. She added eight steals, six rebounds and five assists. Ogle moved past Missy Schomaker (1997-2000) into fifth place on the Hutchinson career steals list with 160.

Sophomore Lauryn Mapusua had a huge second half, scoring all 12 of her points in the final two quarters. Mapusua had six rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

Nafatoumata Haidara and Presley Barton scored eight points each and Sasha Francis finished with seven points.

The Blue Dragons closed shooting 45.2 percent (28 of 62), hitting 9 of 11 shots in the third quarter along and 59.2 percent overall in the second half. The Blue Dragons had 25 assists on 28 makes. Hutch had a 41-30 rebounding advantage and also tallied 22 steals and a season-high-tying nine blocked shots.

Bethany finished shooting 20.5 percent (8 of 39), going 5 of 20 from 3-point range and 6 of 12 from the foul line. The Swedes had 35 turnovers.

Lexi Neel finished with 10 points on 3 of 7 3-point shooting.

Bethany scored 11 points in the first quarter and just 16 points over the final three quarters.

GAME NOTES – This was all-time win No. 990 for Blue Dragon women's basketball. … Hutch force 30 or more turnovers for the third time this season. … Abby Ogle had her fourth career game of eight or more steals. … Vannett has four games this season and six for her career of five or more 3-pointers.. … Hutchinson's nine blocked shots tied for eight most in team history and it's the 11th time in program history to block nine shots. … Hutchinson is now 88-1 all-time against KCAC junior varsity teams.