BLUE DRAGON WOMEN UPSET BY BARTON IN REGIONAL SEMIS
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
DODGE CITY – The law of averages finally worked against the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team where the Barton Cougars were concerned on Monday in the Region VI Tournament semifinals.
Not losing to Barton since 2009 and winning the last eight matchups with the Cougars by an average of 25.2 points per game, when the Blue Dragons led by 20 points with 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Hutchinson looked to be in pretty good shape to advance to Tuesday's championship game.
Things drastically changed in the second half and when Vanessa Oduah hit a long 3-point shot off an inbound with 2.3 seconds to play, sixth-seeded Barton officially turned things around against Hutchinson with a 58-57 upset victory over the ninth-ranked and second-seeded Blue Dragons at United Wireless Arena.
The Blue Dragons fall to 28-4, but with a No. 9 national ranking, should be in position to capture one of the eight at-large bids for the 2020 NJCAA Tournament, which beings on March 17 in Lubbock, Texas. Barton (18-15) will take on top-seeded Butler for the Region VI championship and the region's automatic bid at 5 p.m. Tuesday in Dodge City.
After a tight first quarter, the Blue Dragons thought they were in control by halftime. Outscoring Barton 21-6 in the second period – The Blue Dragons hit five 3-pointers while holding the Cougars to no made field goal and just six free throws in the period – the Blue Dragons led 33-13 with 30 seconds left on Tor'e Alford's third 3-pointer of the quarters. D'Shonda Hunt made two free throws with 4 seconds remaining and the Blue Dragons led 33-15 at halftime.
As much as the second quarter was all Blue Dragons, the third quarter was all Cougars.
Barton scored the first 14 points of the third quarter while Hutchinson went scoreless for the first 3 minutes, 52 seconds. Makayla Vannett's layup with 6:02 to play in the period snapped Barton's 14-0 run and the Dragons led 37-27.
Barton extended its third-quarter start to 22-4 over the first 6:36 of the period and cut the Dragon lead to 37-35 with 3:24 to play. Abby Ogle had two late answers in the period to aid in Hutchinson keeping the lead, first with a 3-pointer, then a 2-point jumper with 37 seconds to go and the Blue Dragons led 44-40 after three quarters.
Hutchinson had been undefeated when leading after one period, halftime and after three quarters this season. All three of those streaks were snapped on Monday.
Hutch led 53-48 after an Alford 3-pointer with 3:30 to go, but trailed at the 2:02 mark after a Queen Ulabo 3-pointer gave Barton a 55-53 lead. Lauryn Mapusua tied the game with 42 seconds remaining with two free throws, then it looked like the Dragons finally got the break then needed when Ogle stole the ball and scored with 18.9 seconds left gave the Dragons a 57-55 lead.
Barton advanced the ball to its front court after a timeout. The Dragons used both fouls it had to give on the possession to run the clock down to 3.6 seconds to go. Those law of averages finally kicked into Barton's favor when Oduah nailed a long 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds to play for a 58-57 lead.
Hutch was out of timeouts and wasn't able to advance the ball, still Mapusua had a decent shot from about 38 feet at the buzzer that was off the mark.
Barton shot 64 percent (16 of 25) in its second-half comeback, nailing 7 of 10 3-pointers in the third and fourth quarters after going 1 of 11 in the first half. The Dragons, which had seven first-half 3-pointers, shot only 2 of 14 from distance and 31.0 percent (9 of 31) over the final two quarters and held to a season-low 24 second-half points. Barton outscored Hutchinson 43-24 in the second half.
Vannett and Alford led the Blue Dragons with 13 points each. Ogle had nine points with eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. Brooklyn Betham had eight points and seven rebounds with two blocked shots.
The Blue Dragons shot a season-low 33.8 percent (22 of 65), hitting 9 of 33 from 3-point range and a season-low 4 of 6 from the foul line. The Dragons out-rebounded Barton 38-32 and committed 17 turnovers.
Oduah led the Cougars with 15 points, hitting her only 3-pointer in five attempts for the game winner. Richelle Turney and Tiffany Dortland had 11 points each. Dortland hit three huge 3-pointers in Barton's third-quarter surge.
After shooting only 4 of 25 in the first half, the Cougars wound up shooting 40 .0 percent for the game (20 of 50), hitting 8 of 21 from 3-point range and were 10 of 10 from the free-throw line.
GAME NOTES – Makayla Vannett moved into the Blue Dragon career Top 20 in scoring, now No. 19 with 807 career points. … With three 3-pointers on Monday, Vannett tied her freshman total of 94 for the season, which ties for sixth most in Hutchinson single-season history. … Abby Ogle moved into the Top 25 in career scoring with 742 points. … With four 3-pointers on Monday, Tor'e Alford tied Heather Robben (2008-10) for the ninth-most 3-pointers by a Blue Dragon freshman in a season with 57. … The last time Barton defeated Hutchinson was February 19, 2009 (23 games). … The Dragons are now 62-35 all-time in the Region VI Tournament, 9-9 in the semifinal round. … Hutchinson's current 28 wins are the ninth most in team history.