by GREAT BEND – The top-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team overcame a frigid offensive start to earn its 29th consecutive victory to start a season on Saturday at the Kirkman Activity Center.
The Jayhawk Conference champions Blue Dragons started missing 9 of their first 10 shot attempts, but outscored Barton 32-12 over the next two quarters and rolled to a 57-39 victory.
The Blue Dragons improved to 29-0 overall and 23-0 in the Jayhawk Conference. Hutchinson closes the regular season on Wednesday at Garden City. Barton is now 20-9 overall and 15-8 in the league.
The only field goal in the first quarter for the Blue Dragons was a banked-in 3-pointer by Hailey Jackson. The Blue Dragons trailed 12-3 with 1:19 to play in the opening period and 12-5 after the first quarter.
The Blue Dragons held Barton scoreless for 9 minutes, 21 seconds and took 13-12 lead with a Kiki Smith 3-pointer with 4:30 remaining in the second quarter. The Dragons led 20-16 at halftime and held Barton to 5 of 31 shooting and only 12 points in the middle two quarters to lead 37-20 after three quarters.
The 39 points scored by Barton is the fewest scored in program history with the Blue Dragons.
Smith hit four of Hutchinson’s 11 3-pointers and led the Dragons with a game-high 14 points. Monae Duffy had 11 points and seven rebounds. Akaysha Muggeridge finished with seven points while Jackson and Peyton Mosley had six points each. Journey Armstead had five points, seven rebounds and six assists.
Now with 302 career assists, Armstead became the eighth Blue Dragon in team history to reach 300 career assists.
The Blue Dragons finished shooting 37.5 percent (21 of 56), including 11 of 28 from 3-point range and 4 of 6 from the foul line. The Dragons out-rebounded Barton 38-34 and had 12 turnovers, only one turnover in the second half.
Vivian Onugha had 11 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Cougars. Qeuzia Bertoni had 10 points.
Barton shot 29.8 percent for the game (17 of 57), going 2 of 20 from 3-point range and3 of 4 from the foul line. Barton had 15 turnovers.
Hutchinson’s first points of the game didn’t come until the 5:57 mark of the opening quarter when Jackson banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 3-2 lead. Barton then scored 10 unanswered points and took a 12-3 lead after a Onugha layup with 2:02 to play in the quarter. Madi Denison hit two free throws with 29 seconds to play, cutting the Barton lead to 12-5.
A Duffy jumper with 7:12 to play in the second quarter snapped the Dragons’ drought without a field goal at 8 minutes, 45 seconds. Then Smith hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 13-12 lead with 4:30 remaining in the half. Mosley nailed a 3-pointer at the 3:18 mark for a 16-12 lead. The Dragons outscored Barton 15-4 in the second quarter to built a 20-16 halftime lead.
The Blue Dragons closed what was a 21-6 run over a span of 18 minutes, 46 seconds when Denison hit a jumper for a 34-18 lead with 3:18 to play in the third quarter. The lead grew to 17 at 37-20 on a Mosley 3-pointer with 1:23 remaining in the third quarter. Barton scored the final four points of the period to cut the Dragon lead to 37-24.
Smith hit a 3-pointer and Armstead scored on a drive to the hoop to start the fourth quarter and led 42-24 with 7:34 remaining. The closest Barton got was12 points with 3:51 to play.
