Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Just 46 hours after suffering a tough loss at Cowley College, the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team is back at it.

The Blue Dragons open the Jayhawk West season on Monday against the Northwest Kansas Tech Mavericks. Tipoff is at 5:30 p.m. at the Hutchinson 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) beginning at 5:20 p.m. with Steve Carpenter (play-by-play) and Dan Naccarato (analyst) calling the action. The Blue Dragon Sports Network will provide a videostream, also beginning at 5:20 p.m.

The Blue Dragons (14-2, 6-1 Jayhawk West) are still smarting from the 72-70 loss at Cowley on Saturday on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer after Abby Ogle's go-ahead basketball with 1.4 seconds to play.

The Dragons look to shore up a defense that allowed just the fourth team in the John Ontjes era and the seventh team since 2004 to shoot 50 percent or better in a game. The Tigers hit 26 of 52 shots, including eight 3-pointers and scored 30 points in the paint.

Sophomore Brooklyn Betham comes off a career-best 18 points on 8 of 12 shooting. Ogle added 14 and sophomore Lauryn Mapusua had 12 points, seven rebounds and a career-high eight assists.

Hutchinson starts the 14-game trip through the Jayhawk West in second place at 6-1, just one game behind Seward County.

Northwest Tech is in its second year of full membership to the Jayhawk Conference. The Mavericks (6-9) are in seventh place in the eight-team at 2-5.

The Mavericks have been off for a week. They were supposed to play host to the Tabor College Junior Varsity on Saturday in Goodland, but that game was called off because of travel conditions.

Northwest Tech enters the game on a victory, defeating Allen 79-62 last Wednesday in Goodland. Zantasia White knocked down five 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 20 points to lead Northwest Tech. Jada Russell had four 3-pointers of her own and finished with 18 points.

Defense has been an issue for the Mavericks this season, but last week against the Red Devils, Northwest Tech limited Allen to 35.8 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers. Northwest Tech held a 33-23 rebounding advantage.

The Blue Dragons are in the third game of a five-game-in-11-day stretch. Now 1-1 in the first two legs of this journey, Hutchinson will close this segment of the season out on the road Wednesday at Garden City and Saturday at Pratt.