DRAGON DEFENSE DEVOURS COFFEYVILLE

Sara Cramer hit 3 big 3-pointers to lead the No. 17 Blue Dragon women to a 62-43 victory over Coffeyville on Saturday at Coffeyville. (Joel Powers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)
Sara Cramer hit 3 big 3-pointers to lead the No. 17 Blue Dragon women to a 62-43 victory over Coffeyville on Saturday at Coffeyville. (Joel Powers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

COFFEYVILLE – The No. 17 Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team turned in one of its best defensive performances of the season on Saturday at Coffeyville.

The Blue Dragons held Coffeyville to the fewest points scored in series history as Hutchinson dominated Coffeyville 62-43 at Nellis Hall to earn a season sweep of the Red Ravens.

Hutchinson improves to 18-3 overall 14-3 in the Jayhawk Conference. Coffeyville falls to 10-11 overall and 8-9 in league play.

The previous low offensive output for Coffeyville against the Blue Dragons was 44 points scored in 2012.

The Blue Dragons held Coffeyville without a point to start the game for the first 4 minutes, 38 seconds and without a field goal for the first 13 minutes, 15 seconds. Coffeyville missed its first 16 shots of the game.

The Ravens missed 39 of their first 46 shots and finished the game at 23.3 percent (14 of 60). The Blue Dragons held Coffeyville's leading scorer, Sky Jasper to six points on 2 of 14 shooting and Lucy Burke to eight points on 3 of 13 shooting.

Freshman Jada Mickens scored a game-high 16 points to lead the Blue Dragons. Mickens was 8 of 10 shooting and added eight rebounds and three assists.

Freshman Sara Cramer scored 15 points, hitting three 3-point goals. Sophomore Alicia Brown finished with nine points.

The Dragons got two huge bench contributions from Kelsey Brett and Allissia Green. Brett scored a career-high eight points, hitting two 3-pointers. Green had four points, four assists and tied a career-high five rebounds. She also blocked two shots.

Hutchinson finished 21 of 47 shooting (44.7 percent), hitting 5 of 17 from 3-point range and 15 of 21 from the foul line. The Blue Dragons out-rebounded their 20th opponent in 21 games, 38-34. The Dragons had 19 turnovers.

Cedreanna Lee had a game-high 10 points to lead Coffeyville. Tatiana McCree and Burke had eight points each.

Hutch scored the first eight points of the game and took a 13-4 lead on Cramer's second 3-pointer of the game with 1:37 to play in the first quarter. The Dragons led 14-4 after one quarter. Coffeyville was 0 of 12 shooting in the quarter.

Baskets by Dejanae Roebuck and Mickens extended the lead to 18-4 with 6:55 to play in the second quarter. McCree hit a 3-pointer at the 6:45 mark of the period for the Ravens' first field goal of the game. The Ravens whittled the lead to 18-11 with 4:28 to play, but back-to-back hoops my Mickens pushed the lead back to 22-11 with 2:46 remaining. Mickens closed out an eight-point second quarter with a short jumper to give the Dragons a 26-14 lead at halftime. The 14 points allowed were the second fewest by the Blue Dragons this season.

Coffeyville scored the first points of the second half on a McCree 3-pointer, but the Blue Dragons responded with a 10-2 run over the next 2 1/2 minutes to lead 34-19 after two Roebuck free throws with 7:09 to go in the third quarter. Hutch outscored Coffeyville 20-12 in the period shooting 54.5 percent while holding the Ravens to 22.2 percent. The Dragons closed the half on a 12-5 run and led 46-26 after three quarters.

The Blue Dragons play host to Neosho County at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Sports Arena.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 12-12 all-time against Coffeyville. … The four-points Coffeyville first quarter was the four time this season Hutch has limited an opponent to four or less points in a period. … The Blue Dragons are 8-2 in road games this season. … This was the seventh time this season that Hutch has held an opponent to less than 50 points and less than 30 percent shooting.