Lady Saints Lose Heartbreaker to #1 Hutch

It was a game that fans around the Jayhawk Conference had been waiting for for months and it lived up to its billing Wednesday night in the Greenhouse as #6 Seward County hosted #1 Hutchinson in the marquee NJCAA matchup of the night.  Early on it looked like it might be Hutch's night as the Lady Dragons took a 16 point first half lead before Seward narrowed it to 9 at the halftime break.  Methodically the Lady Saints worked their way back into the game in the second half and with 6:45 to go they tied the score at 53.  After trading leads for the final 7:00, a pair of Hutchinson free throws had the Lady Dragons up one with 3.9 seconds to go and a last second attempt at the win for the Lady Saints rolled off the rim as #1 Hutch held on to win 62-61. 

The game began as many expected, with nerves on both sides of the floor, but those nerves went away quickly and the scoring got going as a trio of early threes for the Lady Saints erased an early Hutch lead to tie the game at 11.  Following a Dragon timeout, Hutch went on a 7-0 run, taking their largest lead to that point in the game at 18-11 with just under 10:00 to go in the first half.  The Seward deficit grew to 11 and then to 16 as the top ranked Lady Dragons began to click, going up 29-13 with 4:53 remaining in the first half.  But the Lady Saints kept battling and by the final first half horn, Seward had weaseled their way back to within single digits, trailing by just nine, 35-26 after 20 minutes of action. 

The first half numbers were similar other than a 27-13 Hutchinson advantage on the boards.  The Lady Saints shot 38% in the period to the Dragons 42% as All-American Kalani Purcell led Hutch with 11 first half points and the Lady Saints Kyndal Davis with 9 for them. 

After the Dragons got the first bucket of the second half to make it an 11 point game, the Lady Saints dug their heels in, getting their hometown crowd back into the game with a 9-0 run to make it a one possession game at 37-35 with 16:32 to go.  Just as quick as Seward got back into things, Hutchinson flexed their muscles again, using a quick 9-0 run of their own to once again make it an 11 point game at 48-37 with just over 13:00 left in regulation.  It was a 12 point Hutchinson lead as the teams approached the second half media timeout when the Lady Saints showed their fight once again.  Seward scored nine straight points to get to within three followed by an old fashioned three point play by Daniela Galindo to tie the score at 53 with 6:45 left.  They didn't stop there as Galindo came up huge again, drilling a right wing three to give the Lady Saints their first lead since the opening moments of the game as they capped off a 15-0 run over a stretch of 5:30 to take a three point, 56-53 advantage with 5:57 to go.  Points were hard to come by from there as both teams battled hard until another Galindo three gave the Lady Saints the lead back 59-58 with 2:20 to go.  A Dragon jumper put the lead back on their side, but a foul sent Davis to the line for Seward for two chances with 30 seconds remaining.  An attempted icing with a timeout failed and the sophomore hit both freebies to give the Lady Saints a one point lead with 30 seconds to go.  With time winding down, the Lady Saints forced a tough Hutchinson shot which missed, but Seward was unable to corral a loose ball rebound and the Dragons got another chance from five feet that also crawled off, but in the melee, a whistle blew and Seward was called for a foul just 3.9 seconds away from victory.  Hutchinson was able to knock down both free throws to take the lead back by one but the Lady Saints raced the ball up the court for a chance to win it at the buzzer but as fate would have it, the ball trickled off the rim as the Greenhouse held its breath and the top ranked Lady Dragons held on to win by one, 62-61 in a battle for the ages. 

Both teams struggled shooting the ball as expected with the top two defenses in the league going head to head. Hutch finished just a tick better than Seward at 40% compared to the Lady Saints 35% on the night.  The huge number came in the rebounding category where the Blue Dragons outrebounded the Lady Saints 52-26 on the night including 19 offensive rebounds that turned into 20 second chance points.  Davis led Seward with 19 points and 7 rebounds in the loss while Axelle Bernard chipped in 13 and Galindo added 12 off the bench. 

The Lady Saints see a six game winning streak snapped as they fall to 18-2, 6-1 on the year while #1 Hutchinson earned their biggest win of the year to remain unbeaten at 22-0, 8-0.  Seward will wrap up the first half of conference play on Saturday when they host game two of a three game home stand against Barton at 6:00 in the Greenhouse.  Free tickets are available courtesy of the buyout sponsors Ruffino's and Hampton Inn at their two Liberal establishments as well as at Hutch's, Golden Plains Credit Union, and First National Bank. 

#6 SEWARD COUNTY/#1 HUTCHINSON BOX SCORE