In a span of five minutes, the Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team fell into a rhythm, scoring 12 unanswered points to jump ahead of Barton.
The Lady Dragons, who are ranked No. 2 in the country in the latest NJCAA poll, won 75-51 to advance to 17-0 overall, 4-0 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division.
“As a team, we’re just a little bit frustrated that we just didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Barton head coach Darin Spence said. “We talked about it before. The team that goes in and gives up a fight will have a chance to beat them. We’ll get another chance.
“When they come out like that, their rhythm gets going. They’re a 62 percent free-throw shooter and they’re shooting 83 percent in the first half because they get their rhythm going. They were getting easy layups off of some of those turnovers.”
The 12-0 run ended when Taschell Phillips scored the first two Barton points at the 14:36 mark. Phillips finished with 13 points.
“When we needed somebody to stand up and get things going, she did that,” Spence said of Phillips. “Again, it goes back to if the kids that are supposed to do that for you going in don’t have their big nights against good teams, you’ve got to find somebody to do it.
“That’s the frustrating part, that our top kids have to drive the bus and bring the others with them. Not just against the lower teams, you have to do it against the tough teams if you want to be playing for something big in March.”
The Lady Dragons got started on a pair of points from Alysse Barlow, who scored six points in the opening five minutes.
Jackie Patterson scored four points, and Laura Patrick scored two points. Patrick finished 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
After dropping behind, Barton was only able to cut the lead to five points with 7:38 remaining in the first half, but Hutchinson opened it back up to 37-25 by halftime.
Barton, which finished 15-for-49 from the field for 30.6 percent, was unable to make up any ground in the second half.
Hutchinson, which shot 25 of 49 from the field for 51 percent, was led by Patrick, who scored 16 points.
Dionne Harris led the Lady Cougars, who are 12-7 overall, 2-3 in the West. Harris finished with 14 points.
Blair Bloomfield and Shea Shoemaker, who are the No. 2 and No. 3 scorers for Barton respectively, combined for 1 of 17 from the field.
“Blair had good shots,” Spence said. “Blair took shots, took a couple of forced shots that she had to, but she only missed a couple of bad shots. I was happy to see her take her shots.
“Shea just doesn’t give herself a chance to shoot it. She’s just takes off so fast dribbling that she’s never in a shooting mode.”
Ta’Kerra Williams saw a few minutes of action, coming back from a knee injury.
Jennifer Allende had surgery to repair her knee this week, and said that she was out for the season.
Barton is idle on Saturday and will travel to Colby on Jan. 25.
JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community
College Conference
Western Division
At Great Bend
Kirkman Activity Center
Wednesday
WOMEN
No. 2 Hutchinson 75, Barton 51
HUTCHINSON (17-0, 4-0)
Laura Patrick 4-11 6-6 16, Chelsea Small 4-6 5-7 15, Alysse Barlow 6-8 2-2 15, Lanicia Lawrence 0-1 0-0 0, Jackie Patterson 4-11 3-4 11, Aja Sorrells 1-2 0-0 2, Kesley Wobber 1-1 0-1 3, Kara Lee 2-2 0-0 4, Jade Herl 2-4 0-0 5, Jasmine Patterson 1-3 1-2 3. Totals 25-49 17-22 75.
BARTON (12-7, 2-3)
Shea Shoemaker 0-6 2-2 2, Raven Anderson 0-4 0-0 0, Taschell Phillips 6-11 1-2 13, Dionne Harris 3-8 8-13 14, Erin Copeland 4-7 1-2 13, Devan Boeger 0-0 0-0 0, Blair Bloomfield 1-11 0-0 2, Netanya Jackson 1-2 5-5 7, Ta’Kerra Willams 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 15-49 17-25 51.
Halftime — Hutchinson 37, Barton 25. Three-point goals — Hutchinson 8-17 (Small 2-2, Patrick 2-7, Herl 2-4, Webber 1-1, Barlow 1-3); Barton 4-10 (Copeland 4-6, Bloomfield 0-2, Shoemaker 0-2).Rebounds — Hutchinson 34 (Small 9); Barton 32 (Harris 9). Total fouls — Hutchinson 22 ; Barton 18. Assists — Hutchinson 22 (Barlow 6); Barton 8 (Shoemaker 2, Copeland 2). Turnovers — Hutchinson 14; Barton 20.
