No. 18 Lady Saints fall to No. 12 Blue Dragons in Jayhawk West title tilt

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The No. 18 Seward County Community College women's basketball team was defeated by Hutchinson Community College, 78-62, on Saturday in the battle for the Jayhawk West championship. The loss by the Lady Saints enabled the Blue Dragons to capture the title in the regular season finale for both teams.

Seward is 23-6 overall and finished second in the Jayhawk West at 18-3, one game behind Hutchinson. The Lady Saints will host a first-round Region VI playoff game against the Allen Community College Red Devils at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Greenhouse.

The Lady Saints were looking to avenge a 72-70 loss to the Blue Dragons at the Greenhouse earlier this season. In the February defeat, Seward fell behind early, came back, but fell short.

This time around, the Lady Saints fell behind again, but there would be no comeback. Seward trailed 12-4 in the first quarter before using a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to 13-10 at the 2:30 mark. That would be as close as the Lady Saints would get the rest of the way as the Blue Dragons hit a pair of trifectas to end the quarter and take a 19-10 advantage.

The Blue Dragons would not look back, outscoring the Lady Saints, 19-11, in the second quarter, opening a 38-21 margin at the half. Seward shot only 25 percent from the floor (9-for-35) and missed all seven of its three-pointers in the first half while Hutchinson was 15-of-30 from the field, including six of 15 from three-point range.

Seward shot better in the third and fourth quarters, playing Hutchinson even for the most part, but could not come close to making it a game.

Leilani Augmon had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists and Tianna Johnson also added 17 points and four rebounds for the Lady Saints, who ending up shooting 37 percent from the field (23-of-63) and hitting only 2-of-17 three-pointers.

Seward managed to force 22 turnovers, but was dominated on the boards with Hutchinson holding a 43-31 edge.

Tor'e Alford had 19 points, including five three-pointers, Abby Ogle netted 15 points and Brooklyn Betham scored 14 points to power the Blue Dragons, who improved to 27-3 overall and finished 19-2 in the Jayhawk West. Hutchinson, which shot 49 percent from the field for the game, including 35 percent from three-point range, will get a first-round bye and not play until next Saturday.

Seward beat Allen, 85-55, on December 4 at the Greenhouse. The Red Devils are 8-21 overall and finished last in the Jayhawk East at 3-17.