Blue Dragon Sports Information

The No. 25-ranked Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team closes out the regular season with the league's top prize within its grasp.

The Blue Dragons (24-5) travel to Garden City (18-10) for the 2021-22 regular-season finale at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Conestoga Arena.

Hutchinson begins the final night of the regular season tied with Independence for first place in the Jayhawk Conference. Both teams are 18-5 entering play on Wednesday. The Pirates close out the regular season at home with Butler.

If the Blue Dragons and Pirates both win or both lose on Wednesday, the teams will share the 2022 Jayhawk Conference title and Independence would own the No. 1 because it has the tiebreaker with the Blue Dragons. If one team wins and the other loses, the winning team takes the conference title outright.

Regardless of what happens on Wednesday, the Blue Dragons earned a first-round bye for the Region VI Tournament and will play an undetermined opponent in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, March 1 at the Sports Arena.

The Blue Dragons will be going after a third-straight conference title and 10th Jayhawk Conference title in program history.

The Blue Dragons rebounded from a home loss to Seward County with a 65-58 road win at Butler last Friday. Despite shooting 4 of 35 from 3-point range, the Blue Dragons got 21 points and nine rebounds from sophomore Mele Kailahi to lead the Dragons.

Garden City is still in play for a first-round bye, but trails fourth-place Barton by one game entering play on Wednesday. The Broncbusters have a myriad of possibilities for Region VI seeding, including a potential three-way tie for fourth place with Barton and Dodge City.

The Blue Dragons defeated the Broncbusters 60-48 on January 15 at the Sports Arena for an eighth-straight win over Garden City. Kailahi had 20 points and 12 rebounds in that game to lead the Blue Dragons. Kailani Neves had 12 points for Garden City.