by GARDEN CITY – The No. 1-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team completed its fourth perfect regular season in the program’s 50-year history on Wednesday night at Garden City.
Led by Kiki Smith‘s game-high 28 points, the Blue Dragons used a late 13-2 second-quarter run to take control and defeat Garden City 74-64 at Conestoga Arena.
The Blue Dragons extended their win streak over Garden City to 14 consecutive games.
The Jayhawk Conference champion Blue Dragons are now 30-0 and finish the Jayhawk Conference season 24-0. The Blue Dragons will be the top seed for the Region VI Tournament, which begins on Saturday at sites around the state. The Dragons won’t play until Tuesday, March 12 in the quarterfinals against the winner of the 8/9-seed game.
The Dragons complete their fourth regular season in program history, matching Blue Dragons teams from 1977 (19-0), 2012 (29-0) and 2014 (28-0).
Garden City led 20-16 with 4:17 to play in the second quarter, the Blue Dragons finished the half with a 13-2 run to take a 29-22 lead at halftime and extended that run to 23-2 by scoring the first 10 points of the third quarter.
Smith led the Blue Dragons with her 10th 20-point game of the season and seventh of 25 or more points. She was 8 of 11 from the field and tied a career high with six 3-pointers on nine attempts. Smith was 6 of 6 from the foul line and she had four assists.
Hailey Jackson scored 19 points with a pair of 3-pointers and was 9 of 10 from the foul line.
Monae Duffy had seven points and nine rebounds, while Journey Armstead added six points, six rebounds, three steals and nine assists.
Duffy jumped into the career Top 10 in rebounding, now in ninth place with 507 rebounds.
Armstead moved past Alysse Barlow (2010-12) into seventh place on the Blue Dragon career assist list with 313.
The Blue Dragons shot 45.7 percent from the field (21 of 46), going 10 of 19 from 3-point range and 22 of 28 from the free-throw line. The Dragons were out-rebounded 31-25, but had 21 assists and 17 turnovers.
Maya Nieto led Garden City with 16 points. Stevi Yanci had 14 points. Antonicia Moultrie had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
