by Hutchinson CC Sports Information
A huge fourth quarter erased a six-point deficit after the first three period Friday night and powered the No. 9-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team to a come-from-behind 64-59 victory over Western Nebraska on Friday night to open the Atrium Classic at the Sports Arena.
Hutchinson’s win moved head coach John Ontjes into a tie for fourth place on the Jayhawk Conference’s career coaching wins’ list. Ontjes is now tied with Seward County’s Toby Wynn with 349 conference wins.
The Blue Dragons move to 2-0. Hutchinson will meet NEO at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday to close the Atrium Classic. Western Nebraska (2-1) will play Barton at 1:30 p.m. to open Day 2 of the Atrium Classic on Saturday.
Hutchinson trailed 46-40 after three quarters after Western Nebraska outscored the Blue Dragons 21-10 in the third period. Hutch trailed 52-48 when sophomore Abby Ogle provided the spark to ignite the Dragon comeback.
She knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, the second coming with 3:32 to play in the fourth period to give Hutch a 54-52 lead. WNCC gain led 56-55 before Brooklyn Betham scored inside, which was the final of seven lead changes and the Dragons led 57-56.
Makayla Vannett (Ojibwe) and Kyra Paniora combined to hit six clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Vannett led the Blue Dragons with 17 points, going 3 of 8 from 3-point range and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line. Vannett now has 98 career 3-pointers.
Ogle knocked down 3 of 4 shots from distance to finished with 15 points. She also had five steals and six rebounds. Betham was Hutch’s third-leading scorer with 13 points and eight rebounds. Gelecia Cooper finished with eight points.
The Blue Dragons were 20 of 52 shooting (38.5 percent), hitting 7 of 20 from 3-point range and 17 of 27 from the foul line. Western Nebraska out-rebounded the Blue Dragons 45-38. Each team had 20 turnovers.
