Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Moved to the top of the NJCAA rankings on Monday, the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team's first test as the No. 1 team in the NJCAA comes Wednesday at Cowley.

The Jayhawk Conference-leading Blue Dragons (23-0, 17-0 KJCCC) plays Cowley (12-12, 6-12) at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Scott Auditorium in Arkansas City.

The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and on sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) beginning at 5:15 p.m. with Sean Boston (play-by-play) and Daren Dunn (color) calling the action. The game will be streamed live and free on the Blue Dragon Sports Network beginning at 5:15 p.m.

Hutchinson is the No. 1 team in the NJCAA national rankings for the fourth time in program history and the first since the 2017-18 preseason poll. The Blue Dragons are the lone remaining undefeated team in the NJCAA at 23-0, which ties for the fourth-best start to a season and ties for the fifth-longest winning stream in the 50-year history of the program.

The Blue Dragons earned victory No. 23 with a 93-63 home victory over Cloud County. The Dragons shot 52.9 percent and was 12 of 26 from 3-point range with seven different players hitting 3-pointers. Kiki Smith led all scorers with 20 points.

Hutchinson now owns a 3.5-game lead in the Jayhawk Conference over second-place Dodge City. The Blue Dragons have seven games remaining in the regular season. This week, the Dragons have Cowley and No. 21 Butler at home on Saturday.

Cowley looks to upset a second-straight ranked opponent at Scott Auditorium. Last Saturday, the Tigers took down then No. 11 Dodge City 78-65. Ndack Mbenque had 26 points and Zuzanna Komor had 23 to pace the Tigers to the victory over Dodge City which shot only 30.4 percent from the floor.

Hutchinson dominated Cowley in the season's first meeting on December 9 at the Sports Arena. Led by Hailey Jackson's season-high 26 points and five 3-pointers, the Blue Dragons jumped out to a 19-point halftime lead and cruised to a 72-47 victory over the Tigers.

Smith and Journey Armstead had 17 and 12 points, respectively for the Blue Dragons, who hit 9 of 31 3-point attempts and shot 40.9 percent overall. Cowley was held to 25.0 percent shooting and turned the ball over 22 times.