ONTJES GETS 400TH WIN; DRAGONS ROLL BY HOWARD

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

GREAT BEND - Hutchinson Community College women's basketball John Ontjes became just the fourth head coach in Jayhawk Conference women's basketball history to reach the 400-win plateau on Saturday.

Mya Williams and Kalyn Ervin led a much-improved offensive effort and the No. 20 Blue Dragons turned in a tremendous defensive performance in victory No. 400 as Hutchinson downed Howard College 67-43 to close the Barton Cougar Booster Club Classic at the Barton Gym.

Finishing 2-0 in the classic, the Blue Dragons complete their non-conference schedule with a 6-0 record heading into their Jayhawk Conference opener on Wednesday at Independence.

Ontjes joins Brett Erkenbrack (Cloud County), Jim Littell (Seward County) and Craig Brookover (Coffeyville) as the only coaches in KJCCC women's basketball history to amass 400 wins. Ontjes earned his 400th coaching win in his 482nd game coached with the Blue Dragons.

The Blue Dragons led Howard – which knocked off Barton 71-69 on Friday – 17-10 after one quarter and steadily pulled away. The Dragon lead grew to 32-19 at halftime and Hutchinson outscored Howard 35-24 in the second half.

Defensively, the Blue Dragons were stellar holding the Hawks to 29.5 percent shooting (13 of 44) and forcing 25 turnovers. The Dragons also owned a 41-31 rebounding advantage.

Howard was playing its third game in as many days, going 2-1 in its trip to Kansas.

Despite a final shooting percentage of 35.4 percent (23 of 65), the Blue Dragons were much better offensively than on Friday when they started just 2 of 17 from the field and had to rally from an 11-point deficit to defeat Labette 58-55.

Williams led the way for the Blue Dragons, hitting 3 of 5 from 3-point range and finishing with a game-high 19 points. Williams also added four assists and three rebounds.

Ervin, who hit a go-ahead 4-point play with 11.8 seconds remaining in Friday's come-from-behind victory over Labette, started each half with corner 3-pointers. She finished with a season-high 17 points, adding a career-high five assists with two rebounds and two steals.

Sophomore Tor'e Alford and freshman Janaya Washington finished with nine points each. Freshman Ziya Simms had seven points.

Hutchinson hit 7 of 31 from 3-point range and were 13 of 16 from the free-throw line. The Blue Dragons limited themselves to 14 turnovers.

Charnay Robinson led Howard with 13 points. Daysha Tijerina hit 4 of 6 from 3-point range and had 12 points.

The Blue Dragons were 4 of 10 in the opening quarter from beyond the 3-point line. Tied at 6-all, Hutchinson outscored Howard 11-4 over the final 5:06 of the period, scoring the final five points to open a 17-10 lead. The Dragons pushed the lead to double figures for the first time at 21-10 on an Ervin layup with 8:12 to play in the second period. Defensively the Dragons held the Hawks to no field goals and just four free throws over the final 4:57 of the period to lead 32-19 at halftime. The Dragons held Howard to 26.1 percent shooting in the first two quarters.

Howard opened the third quarter with a 13-6 run and pulled within 41-32 after a Kyla Daniel 3-pointer with 4:27 to play in the third quarter. The Blue Dragons answered the Howard run with a 12-2 run over the final 4:04 of the period, getting a pair of free throws from Ervin with 6 seconds left to lead 54-34.

The Dragons extended that second-half run to 18-2 with the first six points of the fourth quarter. A Simms layup with 6:43 left opened a 25-point Hutchinson lead at 59-34 with 6:43 to play.

The Dragon run was ultimately 22-3 over a span of 9 minutes, 40 seconds and helped open a game-high 28-point Hutchinson lead.

GAME NOTES – Hutchinson earned its first win in series history over Howard. Hutchinson and Howard have met only one other time, November 2, 2000 with the Hawks winning 50-48. … The Blue Dragons had a huge 32-8 advantage in points in the paint. ... Alford now has 112 career 3-pointers, still 10th on the career 3-point list.