DRAGONS ROLL BY BARTON, REACH 20-WIN PLATEAU

Brooklyn Betham had her fourth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds to lead the No. 8 Blue Dragons to a 67-43 win over Barton on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena. (Bre Rogers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

January 29, 2020

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The No. 8-ranked Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team reached the 20-win mark for the 29th time in the program's 47-year history on Wednesday night at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons used another tremendous defensive start to put the Barton Cougars in a huge early hole and roll to a 67-43 Jayhawk West victory.

Hutchinson's sixth-straight win improves its record to 20-2 overall and 12-1 in the Jayhawk East heading into Saturday's road battle at No. 12 Seward County in Liberal. The third-place Cougars drop to 11-11 overall, 7-6 in the Jayhawk West.

The Blue Dragons held their sixth-straight opponent to less than 33 percent shooting and held the Cougars 29 points under their 72-point scoring average. The Dragons have won 10-straight games over Barton.

Hutchinson allowed Barton just one field goal in the opening 10 minutes of the game and built a 20-4 lead at the quarter break. Barton missed 22 of its first 23 shots of the game and went 13 minutes, 52 seconds without a field goal. Hutchinson built a 31-7 lead by that point on back-to-back Gelecia Cooper inside buckets with 4:49 remaining in the opening half.

For the game, the Blue Dragons held Barton to 24.1 percent shooting (14 of 58). The Cougars did hit 8 of 28 3-pointers and 7 of 12 from the free-throw line.

Freshman Tor'e Alford led five Blue Dragons in double figures with 16 points. She added a pair of 3-pointers and had three assists and two fouls to lead the Dragons.

Sophomores Abby Ogle and Brooklyn Bethem both posted their fourth double-doubles of the season on Wednesday.

Ogle had 10 points and 11 rebounds to go with six steals and two assists. Bethem had 12 points and 11 rebounds, including five offensive boards.

Sophomore Lauryn Mapusua scored in double figures for the sixth time in eight games with 14 points. Sophomore Makayla Vannett added 10 points with a pair of 3-poiners to bring her career number to 163 (fourth in Hutchinson history).

The Blue Dragons shot 40.0 percent for the game (26 of 65), going 5 of 23 from 3-point range and 10 of 15 from the free-throw line. The Blue Dragons out-rebounded Barton 48-41. The Dragons tied a conference season low with 12 turnovers.

Richelle Turney led Barton with 15 points and nine rebounds. Turney hit 3 of 8 from 3-point range. She was the only Cougar to score in double figures. The Blue Dragons held Queen Ulabo, one of Barton's top scorers to two points on 1 of 9 shooting.

GAME NOTES – This was all-time Blue Dragon win No. 996. … The Blue Dragons are now 12-0 at the Sports Arena this season. … This was the 12th time this season Hutch held an opponent to less than 50 points and the seventh time to hold an opponent to less than 30-percent shooting. … Abby Ogle's six steals were the seventh time this season and 15th for her career to have five or more steals in a game. … This was Brooklyn Bethem's seventh rebounding game of 10 or more rebounds.