Hutchinson CC Sports Information

SALINA – Mya Williams and Tor'e Alford – the Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team's top two scorers – combined for 53 points and 23 rebounds to lead the Blue Dragons into the Region VI Tournament championship game for the 10th time in program history on Friday.

The No. 25-ranked Blue Dragons led wire-to-wire against rival Seward County and eliminated the Saints in the Region VI Tournament semifinals with a 92-84 win over the Saints at the Tony's Pizza Event Center.

The Blue Dragons (27-5) advances to Saturday's 6 p.m. championship game against the Barton Cougars. Barton knocked off tournament top-seed Independence 73-62 on Friday. The Blue Dragons are in search of their first Region VI championship since 2018.

The combined offensive effort of Williams and Alford offset the 27-point effort of Seward County's Sierra Lynch.

Williams had 23 of her 27 points – this was the 13th time this season Williams had 20 or more points in a game – over the first three quarters. The freshman guard had 14 points in the third quarter alone.

Alford posted her third career double-double with a career-high-tying 26 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Alford had a huge play at the end of the first half. With two seconds remaining in the half, Ziya Simms picked off a long inbound pass by the Saints and immediately passed up forward to Alford. She spun and scored just before the buzzer sounded. The play was verified by replay and Hutchinson led 46-39 at halftime.

Hutchinson led 58-43 with 6:27 to play in the third quarter, but he Saints nearly erased that entire lead, cut the Blue Dragon lead to 80-79 after a Sydney Wetlaufer 3-pointer with 3:29 remaining. The Blue Dragons hit 16 of 20 free throws in the fourth quarter, getting seven free throws from Alford, and two from Janaya Washington – not to mention a huge Kayla Ervin 3-pointer from the right corner – for a game-clinching 12-5 run.

Ervin was the other Blue Dragon to score in double figures with 12 points. Washington chipped in nine crucial points and had a blocked shot. Mele Kailahi had seven points and five rebounds. Kali Howard had one point, but eight rebounds.

The Blue Dragons shot 40.3 percent for the game (27 of 67), hitting 6 of 19 from 3-point range and 32-43 from the foul line. The Blue Dragons out-rebounded Seward County 50-41. The Dragons had 16 turnovers.

Lynch was 9 of 19 shooting for her 27 points. Wetlaufer had 14 points, all in the second half and De'Shawnti Thomas had 12 points and six rebounds.

Seward County finished shooting 39.4 percent (26 of 66), going 6 of 25 from 3-point range and 26 of 36 from the free-throw line. The Saints had 12 turnovers.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 10-10 all-time in the Region VI semifinals and 63-37 overall in Region VI history. … The Blue Dragons are now 49-50 all-time against Seward County, but are 6-3 against the Saints in the Region VI Tournament. … Now with 601 points for the season, Mya Williams moved past Janay Vulgamore and Kim Kroupa into fourth place on the Blue Dragon single-season scoring list. … The 2021-22 Blue Dragons moved into third place on the Hutchinson season 3-point list with 254 3-pointers. The Dragons are four 3-pointers shy of breaking the single-season team record.