NO. 2 BLUE DRAGONS REACH 20-WIN PLATEAU
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
COLBY – Led by a balanced offensive attack and stellar defensive effort, the No. 2-ranked Hutchinson Community College women's basketball team reached the 20-victory milestone on Wednesday night.
The Blue Dragons had a slow offensive start, but steadily pulled away to defeat the Colby Trojans 69-35 at the Colby Event Center in the second meeting of the season.
Hutchinson improved to 20-0 overall and 14-0 in the Jayhawk Conference. The Blue Dragons reach the 20-win plateau for the 32nd time in the program's 50-year history and the 15th time in the John Ontjes era. The Blue Dragons also extended their winning streak over Colby to 19 consecutive games. Colby fell to 6-14 overall and 2-13 in the KJCCC. The Blue Dragons play host to Independence at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Sports Arena.
The Blue Dragons missed 10 of their first 16 shots, but finished hitting 20 of their final 38 shot attempts to pull away, building leads as large as 36 points.
Ten of 11 Blue Dragons to suit up scored on Wednesday led by Akaysha Muggeridge's team-high 13 points, hitting 3 of 5 3-point goals.
Journey Armstead was the only other Blue Dragon to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Armstead surpassed the career 500-point mark with 509 points. Armstead added seven rebounds and three assists.
Madi Denison came off the bench to score nine points with eight rebounds. Bree Horyna hit a pair of 3-pointers and finished with eight points. Jada Pleasant and Kahlen Norris had seven points each. The Blue Dragon bench outscored Colby 33-2.
The Blue Dragons shot 48.1 percent (26 of 54) for the game, hitting 9 of 23 3-pointers and 8 of 13 from 3-point range. The Dragons outrebounded Colby 35-30 and committed 12 turnovers.
Sofia Lopez led Colby with a game-high 17 points and six rebounds.
The Trojans shot only 28 percent (14 of 15) and were held to an opponent season-low one 3-pointer on 15 attempts. Colby was 6 of 7 from the free-thrown line. The Trojans committed 19 turnovers.
The Blue Dragons didn't' score for the first 2:43 of the first quarter. Denison came off the bench to spark the Dragons with back-to-back inside buckets to cap an 8-0 run for an 8-3 lead with 4:11 to play in the first quarter. Hutchinson held Colby to 1 of 12 shooting in the first 10 minutes as the Blue Dragons built a 14-7 lead after one period.
Hutchinson opened the second quarter with a 12-2 run over the first 5:56 of the second quarter. Denison scored to give the Dragons a 26-9 lead with 4:04 remaining in the half. The Dragons led 30-15 at halftime.
The Dragons held Colby scoreless for the first 4:10 of the third quarter and built a 37-15 lead after a Monae Duffy bucket following an offensive rebounds with 7:00 to play in the quarter. The Dragons hit 7 of 14 shots with a pair of 3-pointers from Armstead and Horyna. The Dragons' largest lead of the period was 26 points after an Armstead layup gave the Dragons a 45-19 lead with 3:14 remaining. The Dragons led 45-28 after three quarters.
Leading 56-32, the Dragons used a 13-2 run to build a 69-33 lead after two Horyna free throws with 59 seconds to play. The Dragons outscored Colby 21-10 in the fourth quarter, hitting 6 of 8 total shots, 2 of 2 from 3-point range and 6 of 6 from the foul line.
GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 59-14 all-time against Colby. … The Dragons are 6-0 on the road this season and 140-39 all-time on the road in the John Ontjes era. … This is Hutchinson's sixth start of 20-0 and seventh win streak of 20 games or more in program history. … Journey Armstead moved past Abby Ogle into ninth place on the Blue Dragon career assist list with 245. … This is the 11th time this season the Blue Dragons have held an opponent to less than 30 percent shooting and the third team to hold an opponent to less than 40 points. … Kahlen Norris hit her first career 3-pointer in the second half.