DRAGONS RETURN TO COURT AFTER HOLIDAY BREAK

The Blue Dragon Women's Basketball team opens the 2nd half of the 2019-20 season against the Allen Red Devils at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Sports Arena. (Bre Rogers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)
The Blue Dragon Women's Basketball team opens the 2nd half of the 2019-20 season against the Allen Red Devils at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Sports Arena. (Bre Rogers/Blue Dragon Sports Information)
Information Box

BLUE DRAGON WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

No. 7 Hutchinson (12-1, 5-0) vs. Allen (6-8, 1-4)

When: Saturday, January 3, 2020
Where: Hutchinson Sports Arena
Tipoff: 5:30 p.m.
Live Radio: KHUT-FM (102.9); KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5), 5:20 p.m.
Video: Blue Dragon Sports Network (at BlueDragonSports.com), 5:20 p.m.
Live Stats: Available at tipoff
Twitter: @bluedragonsport
Corporate Sponsor: Schaefer, Johnson, Cox, Frey Architecture

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

After 24 days off because of the holiday break, the Hutchinson Community College Women's Basketball team is back in action on Saturday to take on the Allen Red Devils.

The No. 7-ranked Blue Dragons look to extend a six-game winning streak as Hutchinson's plays its final Jayhawk East opponent at home in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

The game will be broadcast live on Blue Dragon flagship station KHUT-FM (102.9) and sister stations KWBW-AM/FM (1450/98.5) beginning at 5:20 p.m. with Steve Carpenter (play-by-play) and Dan Naccarato (analyst) calling the action. The game will be streamed on the Blue Dragon Sports Network at 5:20 p.m.

Reviewing the first semester for the Blue Dragons ... Hutchinson rolled up a 12-1 overall record, its only loss coming in a neutral-court Top 10 matchup to New Mexico (a team that just knocked off No. 1 Trinity Valley this past weekend). The Blue Dragons are 5-0 in the Jayhawk West and carry a 0.5 game lead over Seward County in the league standings.

As usual, the Blue Dragon defense has been stellar. Hutchinson leads the conference in scoring defense, allowing just 50.5 points per game. Only one team has shot better than 40 percent (New Mexico, 40.3 percent) as Hutch is allowing opponents to shoot just 30.0 percent for the season, again tops in the KJCCC.

The Blue Dragons also lead the Jayhawk in scoring offense at 79.0 points per game. Sophomores Abby Ogle and Makayla Vannett lead the way statistically. Ogle is averaging 14.7 points per game while shooting 56.9 percent from the field. Vannett is averaging 14.1 points per game and hit hitting 45.5 percent from 3-point range.

Vannett opens the second half of the 2019-20 season tied with Heather Robben for sixth place on the Blue Dragon career 3-point list with 137 career makes from distance. Ogle opens the second have in seventh place on the career steals list with 145.

The Red Devils (6-8) got off to a nice start winning 5 of 9 games to open the season after a 3-28 mark in 2019. The Devils have struggled to a 1-4 start in conference play with three-straight losses to Seward County, Colby and Dodge City. The only KJCCC win for Allen was an 85-81 win over Garden City on November 30 in Iola.

Allen is averaging 67.4 points offensively and 70.4 points defensively. The Devils shoot 37.2 percent overall, 23.7 percent from 3-point range.

Sophomore guard Ariel Walker leads the Red Devils in scoring at 14.5 points per game. Freshman guard Courtney Crippen is at 10.5 points per contest.