Hutchinson Men & Women drill Busters

Hutchinson, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Garden City knew they were going to be in for a tall task on Saturday against two nationally-ranked programs in the Hutchinson Sports Arena. Unforturnately for the Buster men’s and women’s teams, it was a pair of performances they would love to quickly erase. The No. 9 Lady Blue Dragons never trailed, en route to an 85-54 win, while the No. 10 Blue Dragon men controlled the final 30 minutes in a 116-75 victory.

Women
One of the biggest stats that can be a determining outcome of a game are turnovers. Unfortunately for Garden City, Hutchinson scored 35 points of of 28 Lady Buster turnovers, and cruised to the 85-54 victory at the Hutchinson Sports Arena Saturday night.

The No. 9 team in the country started out with a 10-2 lead, only to see Garden City chip away at the lead. Kavita Akula’s second three-point shot pulled the Lady Busters to within 14-12 with under two minutes remaining in the opening quarter. That would be the closest Garden City (5-5, 3-4) would get the rest of the night.

Hutchinson led 18-14 after the first quarter, and used a 9-0 run to lead 27-14 in the first 68 seconds of the second quarter. The Busters would cut it to nine points on four occasions in the second frame, but they would not get it any closer the rest of the night, as the Lady Blue Dragons took a 41-28 halftime lead. 

In the third quarter, Hutch used a 14-2 run to separate themselves from Garden City in the middle of the period, and led 59-36 with 3:25 left in the quarter. The Lady Busters made one final push, cutting the margin to 64-49 after three quarters, on a 13-5 run. 

Whatever momentum Garden City had at the end of the third quarter had, did not convert to the final quarter. Hutchinson (8-1, 6-1) wore down the Lady Busters, outscoring them 21-5 in last 10 minutes of the game, as they cruised to their fifth straight win, and snapped Garden City’s two-game win streak. 

Hutchinson had five players in double figures, led by Kirea Rogers with a game-high 19 points, while Taylor Stahly had 13 and Bride Kennedy Hopoate added 12. The Lady Blue Dragons shot 52.7% from the field (29-55), and were 21-26 from the foul line. They also outscored Garden City 32-2 in bench points, and won the rebounding margin 32-20.

The Lady Busters got 17 points from Monica Barefield, 13 from DeRae Lewis and 11 from Kavita Akula. Garden City shot 42.9% from the field (18-42), and finished 13-20 from the foul line. Hutchinson’s 85 points were the most allowed by the Lady Busters this year, while scoring a season-low in points. 

Coach Nick Salazar Postgame

Men
Two teams that average over 90 points faced off in the Hutchinson Sports Arena, as No. 25 Garden City faced off against No. 10 Hutchinson on Saturday night. The first 10 minutes of the game were nip and tuck, as the teams switched leads six times and had two ties. After the under-10 minute media timeout, it was all Blue Dragons. Hutchinson scored 66 second half points, on their way to a 116-75 win over the Busters.

In the first part of the first half, neither team had a lead bigger than four points. After Hutchinson led 13-9 with 14:53 remaining in the first half, Garden City scored seven straight to give them their biggest lead at 16-13 at the 12:48 mark of the opening half.

The Blue Dragons began one of their many scoring blitzes after that. They started with a 10-2 run in a five-minute span, and eventually led 30-22 with 7:34 remaining in the half. Hutchinson’s hot shooting continued, as every time Garden City would score, the Blue Dragons responded with a basket. Hutch closed out the first half on a 10-4 run to take a 50-36 lead at the break.

Hutchinson (11-0, 7-0) continued the momentum in the second half. The Blue Dragons started out with a 14-2 run in the first three-plus minutes of the second half to open the game up at 64-38 lead with 16:06 left. They would also used one more big run in the second half. It would be a 19-3 run over a four-minute span in the second half to grow their lead to 96-55 with 7:11 remaining. The biggest run that Garden City (8-3, 4-3) could put together in the second half was four straight on two occasions. Hutchinson led by as many as 43 points.

Five Blue Dragons scored double figures, led by J.J. Rhymes with 20 points, while James Conley finished with 19, Devonte Bandoo added 17. After shooting 58.3% in the first half, Hutchinson shot 73% in the second half (27-37) and finished a blistering 65.8% for the game (48-73). The Blue Dragons also had 29 assists, and out-rebounded the Busters 48-23. Hutch finished with 51 bench points.

Garden City was led by Josh Fleming’s 18 points, while Victor Dukes and Troy Stancil had 12 and Ben Howze finished with 10 points. Stancil was 4-4 from the field, which included a pair of three pointers. The Busters finished 40.6% (26-64) from the field, and surrendered 26 points off 18 turnovers. The 116 points was the first time they’ve allowed over 100 points in a game since January 2, 2016, when Neosho County scored 100 in a 100-96 double overtime win. The 116 points were the most given up in the Brady Trenkle era.

Assistant Coach Jordan Altman Postgame

Garden City will return home for their final home doubleheader before the winter break, as Cloud County comes to town on Wednesday. The women will tip off at 6 pm, followed by the men at 8 at the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex.