by The NJCAA’s No. 4 scoring defense was at its best Saturday night as the Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball teams held a greatly improved Pratt team 32 points under its scoring average in a key Jayhawk West battle at the Sports Arena.
The No. 4-ranked Blue Dragons limited Pratt to 23.5 percent shooting in a 69-38 victory.
Hutchinson improves to 19-0 overall and 10-0 in the Jayhawk West. Pratt falls to 13-5 and 6-4. The Blue Dragons will play at Dodge City on Wednesday. Hutchinson has not lost to Pratt since 2008 (22 games).
The Blue Dragons led 17-13 after one quarter. After that, the Dragon defense played at a high level.
Hutch held Pratt scoreless for 6 minutes, 22 seconds in the second quarter as the Dragons extended a five-point lead into a 33-19 lead at halftime. Pratt was just 2 of 14 shooting in the second quarter. The Beavers were just 6 of 23 shooting in the second half as Hutchinson outscored Pratt 36-19 in the third and quarters.
Pratt’s Courtney Cleveland scored with 9:19 to play in the second quarter to pull the Beavers within 17-15. From that point, Hutchinson outscored Pratt 52-23 over the final three quarters.
The Blue Dragons held Pratt to 12 of 51 overall shooting and to the Beavers lowest offensive output of the season. Pratt was 3 of 20 from 3-point range. The Dragons forced 23 turnovers for a 23-9 scoring advantage in points off turnovers.
Hutchinson was held to its second-lowest offensive output of the season. The Dragons were 23 of 53 shooting (43.4 percent), hitting 7 of 25 from 3-point rang3e and 16 of 22 from the free-throw line. The Dragons held a slight 39-37 rebounding advantage.
Freshman Abby Ogle led all scorers with 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting, including a 3-pointer.
Freshman Makayla Vannett (Ojibwe) hit three 3-pointers to finish with 12 points, three assists and three steals.
Freshman Keeley Tini added 10 points off the bench. Milan Schimmel (Umatilla) had nine points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals off the bench as Hutch had a 25-10 advantage in points off the bench. Dejanae Roebuck had eight points and nine rebounds.
