By John Mesh
The No. 1-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball are off to a 10-0 start after beating Independence Community College 66-34 Saturday afternoon at the ICC Fieldhouse in Independence.
The Blue Dragon women now are 4-0 in the Jayhawk Conference. The Pirates fell to 1-8 overall and 0-4 in league play.
HutchCC now has won 47 consecutive games, including the 37-0 run to the NJCAA Division I women’s title last year, and has posted 32 straight Jayhawk Conference victories.
Hutchinson played its fourth game away from the Sports Arena in the past five games.
The HutchCC Blue Dragon women led 21-6 after one quarter, 29-13 at halftime and 51-23 after three quarter. The Blue Dragons outscored the Pirates 15-11 in the fourth quarter.
Hailey Jackson led HutchCC with 12 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
Katie Duncan added 11 points, Landon Forbes 9, Jada Pleasant 8, Noelle Anthon 6, Shane Singer 6, Madi Denison 4, Kahlen Norris 4, Dylan Alexander 2, Brynne Katcher 2 and Jaden Wilson 2.
Forbes had 5 assists. Denison and Forbes each had 4 steals.
Asmin Tanhan led the Pirates with 15 points, 8 rebounds and 4 steals. Mikka Chambers added 9 points, Jassie Manning 5 and Tione Johnson 5.
Johnson grabbed 9 rebounds.
Hutchinson women’s coach John Ontjes improved his career record to 493-96 (285-37 in Jayhawk Conference play).
Independence men 103, Hutchinson 97
This time the rally fell short for the Hutchinson Community College men’s team.
The Blue Dragons lost to the Independence Pirates 103-97 on the road Saturday at ICC Fieldhouse.
Hutchinson is 4-4 in games decided by 12 points or fewer and is 2-1 in overtime games.
The Blue Dragon men dropped to 6-4 overall and 2-2 in Jayhawk Conference play. The Pirates improved to 5-4 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Independence led HutchCC 61-51 at halftime.
Isaiah Jackson and Jaquez Thornton led the Blue Dragons with 22 points each. Bobby Cannon scored 18 and Khalil Arnold 13.
Dimitrius “DJ” Dudley added 8 points. Kobe Smith 6, Ketraleus “Bo” Aldridge 6 and Mikhail Abdul-Hamid 2.
Jackson grabbed 10 rebounds and Cannon 9. Thornton dished off 10 assists and had 3 steals. Dudley had 3 steals. Cannon blocked 3 shots.
Five Pirates scored in double figures, led by Chianti Tramble with 22 points. Chris Dockery scored 19, David Wilson 15, Julian Kiett 14 and Tyland Holland 12.
Trashaun Combs-Pierce added 8 points and Jeremiah Dallas-Martin 7.
Dockery grabbed 9 rebounds and Combs-Pierce 8. Dockery and Tramble each had 4 assists. Holdman had 3 steals.
HutchCC schedule
The HutchCC women’s and men’s teams each play three games in December.
The Blue Dragon women and men host Coffeyville Wednesday (5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) and Garden City on Dec. 11 (5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.).
The Blue Dragons will finish the first semester Dec. 14 at Cloud County (2 p.m. and 4 p.m.).