Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team returns from a 23-day holiday break as the Blue Dragons make their longest road trip of the season on Wednesday to play at Northwest Tech.

Tipoff for the Jayhawk Conference contest will be at 6:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. MT) from the Max Jones Fieldhouse in Goodland. The Blue Dragon Sports Network will have audio only on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) beginning at 6:15 p.m. CT. Northwest Tech will provide a pay-per-view video stream.

The Blue Dragons (11-4) start the second half of the season three games out of first place in the Jayhawk Conference with a 5-4 league record. The Dragons are currently in sixth place in the league.

Hutchinson hopes a strong outing in the final game of the first semester will start a second-semester surge. The Blue Dragons had five players score in double figures, including a double-double from Monae Duffy, in an 87-47 victory over Colby on December 12 at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons are 13-1 under head coach John Ontjes in first games following holiday breaks.

Northwest Tech (5-8) is 1-7 in conference play, its lone KJCCC win coming against Colby on December 7. The Mavericks dropped games to Garden City and Seward County entering the holiday break.

The Blue Dragons also look to turn their fortunes around when not playing in the Sports Arena, where they are 8-0 this season. The Blue Dragons are 1-4 in five true road games this season, having dropped three straight road games. Hutchinson was right in each of those games, either leading or trailing by as few as two points late in the third quarter in road losses to Cowley, Butler and No. 21 Dodge City.

While ranking in the middle of the pack offensively, the Blue Dragons continue to be one of the stellar defensive teams in the Jayhawk Conference this season. The Dragons currently rank No. 2 in the KJCCC in scoring defense at 55.5 points per game, No. 2 in 3-point defense (25.0 percent) and No. 5 in field-goal defense (35.7 percent).