Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Wednesday night was almost déjà vu all over again for the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team.
This past Monday, the No. 20-ranked Blue Dragons had a chance to clinch an outright Jayhawk West title with a win over Barton. The Cougars hit 15 3-pointers and a 19-point loss to Barton delayed the Blue Dragons' celebration.
In Wednesday's 2021 regular-season finale at the Sports Arena, the Colby Trojans hit seven 3-point goals through the first 2 1/2 quarters and led by four points with 4:19 to play in the third quarter. Unlike Monday, the 3-pointers stopped falling for the Colby and the Dragons got untracked in the final 14 minutes for an 85-65 victory over the Trojans.
The 18-4 Blue Dragons repeat as outright Jayhawk West champions with a 17-4 league record, winning the league by one game over both Barton and Seward County. The Blue Dragons earn a Region VI Tournament opening-round bye when the postseason begins on Monday. The Blue Dragons will play the Cowley/Pratt winner at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Sports Arena in the Region VI quarterfinals.
The conference championship is the 11th in program history and the eighth in the John Ontjes era.
Freshman Kalyn Ervin scored a career-high 22 points, hitting a career-high 4 of 9 from 3-point range to pace the Blue Dragons. Ervin is averaging 12.8 points over her last eight games. She scored nine points in a 40-16 Blue Dragon run over the final 14 minutes of the game.
Sophomore Tor'e Alford scored 21 points on 8 of 11 shooting with seven assists and five rebounds. She hit the final shot before halftime that gave Hutchinson a 35-31 lead. She sank the final shot of the third quarter that finished off an 18-4 momentum-changing run that gave the Dragons a 63-53 lead heading to the fourth period.
Sophomore Kate Ogle scored 12 of her 15 points in the second half on 6 of 11 shooting. She started the Blue Dragon comeback in the third quarter with a 3-point goal after the Trojans have built its 45-41 lead. Ogle had 10 points in the third quarter.
The Blue Dragons shot 50 percent in a game for the fourth time this season, tying a season high of 51.7 percent from the floor (31 of 60). Hutchinson was 8 of 22 from 3-point range and 15 of 25 from the free-throw line. The Dragons had a 47-36 rebounding advantage, but gave up a season-high 19 offensive rebounds.
Colby became the ninth Blue Dragon opponent this season to shoot less than 30 percent. The Trojans finished shooting 29.6 percent (21 of 71), hitting 7 of 20 from distance and 16 of 19 from the free-throw line.
Kerrigan Johnson led Colby (4-16, 3-16 Jayhawk West) with 13 points. De'jah Vigliante and Kiarra Henderson had 10 points each.
The Blue Dragons extended their winning streak over Colby to 13 games and have a 53-14 all-time series advantage over the Trojans.