by CASPER, Wyoming – Shut out for three quarters, Hutchinson Community College leading scorer Kiki Smith had a huge fourth quarter to help the No. 1-ranked Blue Dragon women survive an upset bid in the second round of the NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament on Wednesday.
The Blue Dragons rallied from as many as nine points down to defeat No. 16-seed Cochise 59-54 at the Ford Wyoming Center.
Winning their 34th consecutive game, the top-seeded Blue Dragons will play eighth-seed New Mexico Junior College at 1 p.m. CT (Noon MT) on Friday in the quarterfinal round. The Blue Dragons won their third-straight opening game in a national tournament.
The Blue Dragons got off to a slow offensive start hitting only 3 of 13 shots in the opening quarter. The Dragons trailed 12-10 after one quarter and that deficit grew to as many as nine points at 31-22 with 1:36 to play in the second quarter. Kahlen Norris scored five-straight points to close the half to pull within 31-27 at halftime.
The Blue Dragons outscored Cochise 17-10 in the third quarter to take a 44-41 lead after three quarters. After three early fourth-quarter lead changes, the Blue Dragons trailed 49-47 with 5:15 remaining. Smith then hit her first field goal of the game, a 3-pointer with 4:15 to play, for a 50-49 Hutchinson lead.
Smith scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter and came up with two huge steals in the final 60 seconds to preserve the Blue Dragon victory. Smith was 4 of 4 from the floor in the fourth quarter. The Jayhawk Conference Player of the Year had three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Hailey Jackson was Hutchinson’s leading scorer with 16 points with a 3-pointer and 5 of 6 from the free-thrown line. Jackson had four rebounds.
Journey Armstead, coming off the bench for the first time this season finished with 12 points and four assists. Now with 333 career assists, Armstead moved past Tore Alford and K.C. Hilgenkamp into second on Hutchinson’s career assist list.
Norris, who started in place of Armstead, finished with eight points. Akaysha Muggeridge had five of her seven points in the third quarter.
The Blue Dragons shot 38.5 percent (20 of 52) overall, hitting 4 of 14 from 3-point range and 15 of 22 from the free-thrown line. The Dragons were outrebounded 39-35, but had just eight turnovers.
Ali Hardwell had 17 points to lead Region 1 champion Cochise on 8 of 13 shooting. Clara Gonzalez had 16 points. The Apaches shot 38.2 percent (21 of 55), going 4 of 14 from 3-point range and 8 of 12 from the free-throw line. Cochise had 20 turnovers.
Trailing 5-0 early, Muggeridge got the first Hutchinson points of the game at the 6:12 mark of the opening quarter. The Dragons scored six unanswered and took a 6-5 lead on a Jackson bucket with 3:49 to play. Tied at 8-all, Jackson made it 10-8 with a pair of free throws, but the Apaches scored the final four points of the quarter for a 12-10 lead after 10 minutes.
The Cochise run went to 11 unanswered points as Hutchinson went scoreless for 5 minutes, 7 seconds for a 19-10 lead with 8:55 to play. Jackson ended the scoring drought with two free throws as the 8:42 mark. Trailing 21-14, Jackson hit a 3-pointer with 4:51 to play to cut the deficit to four points. Bree Horyna’s basket with 3:49 left made it 23-19. Cochise went on a 8-3 run to lead 31-22 after a Fortuna Ngnawo field goal with 1:36 to play. The Dragons then got a three-point play and a layup from Norris to close the half trailing 31-27.
The Dragons didn’t score for the first 2:33 of the third quarter and trailed 37-31 with 5:32 to play in the period. Norris hit a 3-pointer with 4:57 to play in the period which started a 10-3 run that was capped by a Muggeridge 3-pointer for a 41-39 lead with 1:42 to play in the quarter. Muggeridge added two more free throws and Horyna went 1 of 2 from the line for a 44-39 lead with 40 seconds to play, but Hardwell hit a mid-range jumper with 40 seconds left to cut the Dragon lead to 44-41 after three quarters.
The lead changed hands three times in the first 4 minutes of the third quarter. Smith finally scored hitting 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game at 47 with 6:28 to play. Then trailing 49-47, Smith nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing for a 50-49 lead with 4:15 remaining. Leading 53-51, Smith scored again coming out of a Dragon timeout with 1:11 left for a four-point lead. Her steal and layup with 53 seconds left upped the Dragon lead to 57-51.
