By John Mesh
The No. 1 Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball and the No. 15 Hutchinson Blue Dragon men’s team both went 2-0 at the BSN Tip-Off Classic games Friday and Saturday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
On Friday, the HutchCC women dominated the Tabor College Junior Varsity 68-23 and the Blue Dragon men’s basketball team needed overtime to defeat Southwestern Christian College 99-94.
On Saturday, the HutchCC women’s team fought off Murray State College 69-68 and improved to 4-0 and the Blue Dragon men’s team downed Labette Community College 72-60.
Landon Forbes led the Blue Dragon women in Friday’s game against the Tabor JV with 16 points. Brynne Katcher scored 13 and Katie Duncan 9.
Elie McKellips led the Tabor Bluejays with 6 points. Tayton Smith grabbed 7 rebounds.
Saturday night, Hutchinson was led by All-American candidate Hailey Jackson with 30 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Jackson made 10-of-22 field goal attempts (including 1-of-2 3-point tries) and 9-of-10 free throws.
Kahlen Norris scored 9 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Jada Pleasant scored 7 points, Katie Duncan 6, London Forbes 5, Madi Denison 4, Brynne Katcher 4, Dylan Alexander 2 and Jaden Wilson 2.
Denison grabbed 8 rebounds. Pleasant had 4 assists, Forbes 3 and Honey Cooney 3.
Arissa Garcia led Murray State College with 20 points. Olivia Quapaw added 11, Mirela Casas 10 and Mya Cotto 10. Ongolea Afu grabbed 11 rebounds and Arissa Garcia 8. Garcia had 4 assists.
The Hutchinson Blue Dragon men’s basketball team trailed for much of the second half Friday night, but rallied to send the game into overtime. The Dragons outscored Southwestern Christian 12-7 in overtime.
The Blue Dragons were led by Jaques Thornton with 28 points. Isaiah Jackson and Bobby Cannon each scored 15 points, Dimitrius Dudley 13 and Aidan Wing 10.
Dudley and Cannon each grabbed 8 rebounds and Jackson 6. Dudley had 6 assists. Cannon had 2 steals. Cannon blocked 2 shots.
Southwestern Christian’s Carson Brown led all scorers with 36 points, including five 3-pointers. Kainan Thomas scored 18 (including four 3-pointers) and Dominic Samuel 14. Aaron Harden added 11 points and 9 rebounds.
In the victory over the Labette County Cardinals, the Hutchinson Blue Dragon men were paced by Ketraleus “Bo” Aldridge with 22 points, followed by Bobby Cannon with and Kahlil Arnold with 10 each, Jaquez Thornton 9 and Isaiah Thornton with 8.
Jackson grabbed 13 rebounds and Aldridge 8. Aldridge also had 4 assists.
Joshua Thornton led the Cardinals with 16 points. Nyout Arop added 10 points, Brandon Moya-Almonte 9 snf Aziz Jagne 8.
In other Friday games at the Tip-Off Classic, the Barton Community College women defeated the Bethany College JV 91-72 and the No. 1-ranked Barton men defeated Labette Community College 100-45.
In other Saturday games at the Tip-Off Classic, the Barton women defeated the Tabor College JV 68-41 and the Barton CC men survived a challenge from Southwestern Christian to defeat the Rams 78-73.
The Hutchinson and Barton teams compete in the Barton Cougar Classic next weekend (Nov. 15-16).