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Lady Busters fall to No. 2 Hutchinson, 84-58
Published 2/9/2012 in Sports
By BRAD HALLIER
Special to The Telegram
HUTCHINSON — Wednesday's game at the Sports Arena was far from over when Hutchinson Community College women's coach John Ontjes made a decision. For the rest of the game, sophomore Laura Patrick would be the point guard and run the offense.
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Travis Morisse/Hutchinson News Garden City’s Mikayla Skidmore grabs a rebound in front of Hutchinson’s Chelsea Small in the first half Wednesday at the Sports Arena in Hutchinson.
The former Central Christian standout has not played much point guard since high school. She looked at ease, however, in helping the second-ranked Blue Dragons pull away for an 84-58 win against Garden City at the Sports Arena.
Regular point guards Alysse Barlow and Lanicia Lawrence weren't at their best, combining for only three assists as they struggled getting the ball inside. Even though Hutchinson was up 61-45, Ontjes decided to go to Patrick, who has played mostly on the wing this season.
"Laura's capable of playing point guard for us," Ontjes said. "She makes good decisions and gets her teammates involved. She does a steady job."
Hutchinson quickly put away a Garden City team that had won four of five and climbed into third place in the Jayhawk West. Patrick scored seven points, and sophomore center Kara Lee added eight points in a game-ending 29-13 run.
"It was kind of fun for a change," Patrick said about playing point guard. "It was nice that Coach has confidence in me to put me there if we need someone at that position."
Hutchinson (23-0, 10-0 Jayhawk West) had a strong start, leading 24-9 less than 11 minutes into the game. Garden City (13-10, 6-4) was plagued with foul trouble, including leading scorer Tamara Jones having three fouls. But the Broncbusters closed to four points before trailing 38-32 at halftime.
"I thought we did a better job of making plays," Garden City coach Alaura Sharp said, referring to Hutchinson's 25-point win earlier this season. "We just didn't finish them. We got what we wanted this time. We just didn't finish in the paint."
Ashley Walker led Garden City with 20 points, while Jones had 12, about five under her season average.
"It was good to see her step up," Sharp said of Walker. "That's been the missing link in our chain. She struggled through the back half of conference, but she played like a sophomore tonight."
Ontjes didn't like how his team played in the first half, even when it raced to a 15-point lead.
"I really felt, early in the first half, I didn't feel we had much purpose," Ontjes said. "Defensively, it didn't look like it was important to us to get stops."
That changed in the second half, as Hutch held Garden City to 26 points and 31.6 percent shooting.
Hutchinson also received a boost off the bench from Lee, who matched a career high with 15 points on 7 of 8 shooting. The 6-foot, 4-inch UMKC recruit also had five rebounds and a blocked shot.
"Coach told us every day that they couldn't guard inside," Lee said. "We average 23 assists a game, so that tells you something. We used it to our advantage."
Hutchinson extended its lead to 55-44 with 11:46 left, and Ontjes soon opted for a change at point guard.
Patrick finished with 16 points, and Aja Sorrells came off the bench to score 10.
See boxscore in Scoreboard, Page B2.
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