BLUE DRAGONS POST 27TH WIN OF SEASON

Tijuana Kimbro posts a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds to lead the No. 10 Blue Dragons to a 75-62 victory over Colby on Saturday at Colby. (Bre Rogers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)
Tijuana Kimbro posts a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds to lead the No. 10 Blue Dragons to a 75-62 victory over Colby on Saturday at Colby. (Bre Rogers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

COLBY – The No. 10-ranked Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team maintained its share of first place in the Jayhawk West entering the final week of the regular season on Saturday with a 75-62 road win at Colby.

The Blue Dragons improve to 27-1 overall and stayed in a first-place tie with Seward County in league play at 18-1. Seward County rallied to defeat Barton 81-80 on Saturday. Hutchinson plays its final home regular-season game on Wednesday against Barton at 5:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena.

Hutchinson reaches the 27 win mark ties for the eighth-most wins in program history, matching three other teams. The Blue Dragons increased their win streak over Colby to nine games.

Leading 26-24 with 3:37 left in the second quarter, the Blue Dragons closed the half on a 12-0 run to lead 37-24 at halftime. The Dragons extended that decisive run to 32-8 over the first 7:50 of the third quarter and led 58-30 with 2:10 to play after a Makayla Johnson inside bucket.

Leading 62-38 after three quarters, the Blue Dragons scored only two points over the first 5:11 of the fourth quarter as a 15-2 Colby run cut the Hutch lead to 64-53 after back-to-back 3-pointers from the Trojans' Kiara Knight. Colby outscored the Blue Dragons 24-13 in the fourth quarter.

Freshman Milan Schimmel scored a conference-season high 17 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers, to lead the Blue Dragons on Saturday. Schimmel added five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.

Making her first career start, Tijuana Kimbro posted a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. She also had two blocked shots.

Four players scored in double figures for Hutchinson. Makayla Vannett hit two 3-pointers and finished with 14 points and a team-high four assists. Johnson had 10 points and four rebounds. Dejanae Roebuck had nine points and Abby Ogle chipped in eight points, four assists and three steals.

The Blue Dragons shot 49.0 percent overall (25 of 51), hitting 4 of 13 from 3-point range and 21 of 28 from the free-throw line. The Dragons outrebounded Colby 40-25.

Colby was held to 36.4 percent shooting (20 of 55). The Trojans were 6 of 16 from 3-point range and 16 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Kaitlyn Guillory had 14 points to lead the Trojans. Sia Williams had 13, Jordan Dixon had 11 and Kiara Knight had 10 to lead Colby.

GAME NOTES – The 2018-19 Blue Dragons match and 2001-02, 2015-16 and 2017-18 teams with 27 wins, the eighth most in team history. … The Blue Dragons are 49-14 all-time against Colby. … This was all-time Blue Dragon win No. 970. … Sophomore Dejanae Roebuck moved past Sherry Dishman into No. 12 on the career scoring list with 879 points. She moved past Kirea Rogers into fifth on the career rebound list with 525. … Tijuana Kimbro is the fourth Blue Dragon to post a double-double this season. … Hutch forced a season-low eight turnovers. … The Dragons are 12-0 on the road this season. .. This was the 24th time Hutchinson's defense held an opponent to less than 40 percent shooting.