by EL DORADO – The No. 11 Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team took over sole possession of first place in the Jayhawk Conference Wednesday night after returning from the holiday break with a dominant victory over No. 3 Butler at the Power Plant.
Sophomore Peyton Mosley scored eight points in a second quarter explosion that powered Hutchinson to a 73-54 victory.
Hutchinson defeated a Top 5 nationally ranked team for the first time since March 8, 2017 when the Blue Dragons defeated then-No. 4 Seward County 65-44 in the 2017 Region VI Tournament.
The Blue Dragons are now 13-0 overall and are the last remaining undefeated team in the Jayhawk Conference at 7-0. The Blue Dragons play host to Northwest Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Sports Arena. Butler is now 12-1 and 6-1 in the KJCCC.
Hutchinson trailed 7-2 with 5:36 to play in the first quarter before finally getting its offense going. Trailing 9-6, Mosley hit her first 3-point attempt to tie the game with 1:48 to play in the first quarter, and then Journey Armstead’s layup with 13 seconds left in the period gave Hutchinson an 11-10 lead after the first quarter.
The Blue Dragons exploded in the second quarter, outscoring Butler 28-4 over the first 9 1/2 minutes of the second quarter. Hutchinson shot 71.4 percent (10 of 14) and was 5 of 5 from 3-point distance in the second stanza. Butler was just 3 of 13 in the second quarters and committed seven turnovers.
Mosley scored eight point in the second quarter to lead the Dragons. She had two 3-pointers, while Hailey Jackson, Jada Pleasant and Bree Horyna also sank 3-pointers in the period.
Leading 23-14 with 5:22 to play in the period, the Blue Dragons went on a 16-0 run over a span of 5 minutes, 7 seconds to build a game-high 25-point lead at 39-14 with 18 seconds to play. Butler’s Freddie Wallace hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Dragon lead to 39-17 at halftime.
The Blue Dragon lead dwindled to 12 points at 51-39 with 9:43 to play in the fourth quarter, but Hutchinson answered with a 7-0 run capped by a Mosley 3-pointer with 6:03 to play for a 58-39 lead.
Mosley led the Blue Dragons with a team- and career-high 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting, going 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Mosley added a season-high four assists.
Kiki Smith finished with 15 points with five assists and four steals. Jackson had 12 points and nine rebounds. Monae Duffy had her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Armstead had eight points.
The Blue Dragons finished shooting 43.5 percent overall (27 of 62), hitting 8 of 24 from 3-point range and 11 of 20 from the foul line. The Dragons had a slim 41-40 rebounding advantage. The Dragons had 20 assists and 10 steals to only 10 turnovers.
