by COLBY – The No. 10-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team maintained its share of first place in the Jayhawk West entering the final week of the regular season on Saturday with a 75-62 road win at Colby.
The Blue Dragons improve to 27-1 overall and stayed in a first-place tie with Seward County in league play at 18-1. Seward County rallied to defeat Barton 81-80 on Saturday. Hutchinson plays its final home regular-season game on Wednesday against Barton at 5:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
Hutchinson reaches the 27 win mark ties for the eighth-most wins in program history, matching three other teams. The Blue Dragons increased their win streak over Colby to nine games.
Leading 26-24 with 3:37 left in the second quarter, the Blue Dragons closed the half on a 12-0 run to lead 37-24 at halftime. The Dragons extended that decisive run to 32-8 over the first 7:50 of the third quarter and led 58-30 with 2:10 to play after a Makayla Johnson inside bucket.
Leading 62-38 after three quarters, the Blue Dragons scored only two points over the first 5:11 of the fourth quarter as a 15-2 Colby run cut the Hutch lead to 64-53 after back-to-back 3-pointers from the Trojans’ Kiara Knight. Colby outscored the Blue Dragons 24-13 in the fourth quarter.
Freshman Milan Schimmel (Umatilla) scored a conference-season high 17 points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers, to lead the Blue Dragons on Saturday. Schimmel added five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots.
Making her first career start, Tijuana Kimbro posted a double-double with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds. She also had two blocked shots.
Four players scored in double figures for Hutchinson. Makayla Vannett (Ojibwe) hit two 3-pointers and finished with 14 points and a team-high four assists. Johnson had 10 points and four rebounds. Dejanae Roebuck had nine points and Abby Ogle chipped in eight points, four assists and three steals.
