Hutchinson CC Sports Information

While the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team is in a showdown with Seward County for first place in the Jayhawk West title, Monday's opponent is in a battle of its own.

The No. 10-ranked Blue Dragons travel on Monday night to take on the much-improved Pratt Beavers in a 6 p.m. tipoff from the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena.

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) with Glen Grunwald (play-by-play) and Rusty Hilst (analysis) beginning at 5:55 p.m. The Blue Dragon Sports Network will also stream the game live at 5:55 p.m.

With five games remaining in the regular season, the 24-1 Blue Dragons and Seward County are tied for first place in the Jayhawk West with 15-1 records. Both Hutch and Seward County have already clinched home games for the first round of the Region VI Tournament with the ultimate winner of the league getting an opening-round bye.

Pratt is 16-8 overall and is currently in fourth place in the Jayhawk West at 9-7. The Beavers are two games behind Barton for third place and are just one game ahead of Dodge City for fourth place. The top four teams in each of the Jayhawk West and East earn opening-round home games.

The Blue Dragons, who look to win at least 25 games in a season for the 13th in team history, come off a season-high 59.7 percent on Saturday afternoon in a 95-53 victory at Garden City. The Blue Dragon bigs had a huge game as Jada Mickens, Dejanae Roebuck, Keeley Tini and Tijuana Kimbro combined for 60 points 23 of 29 shooting against the Broncbusters.

Much like Garden City, Pratt is in the third game of playing the top three teams in the Jayhawk West. Since defeating Colby for win No. 16, the Beavers have lost to Barton (79-56) and Seward County (66-59). Forward Courtney Cleveland had 17 points and nine rebounds with four steals on Saturday against the Saints.

Pratt has already reached the 16-win mark this season, the first time the Beavers have had that many wins since 2016. The Beavers have already made a 13-win improvement after going 3-26 last season.

The Blue Dragons dominated the first meeting with Pratt on January 19 at the Sports Arena, 69-38. The Blue Dragons shot 45.3 percent and had four players reach double figures with Abby Ogle leading the way with 13 points. Makayla Vannett had three 3-pointers and finished with 12 points.

Hutchinson's defense limited Pratt to 23.1 percent shooting and forced 22 turnovers. Rylee Alexander had nine points to lead the Beavers in the first meeting.

A victory on Monday would tie Blue Dragon head coach John Ontjes with Darin Spence for fifth place on the all-time Jayhawk Conference and Region VI coaching wins list.