Hutchinson CC defeats NW Florida State to win national title

Hutchinson Community College did it in model.The Blue Dragons (37-0) accomplished an undefeated season with an 88-80 time beyond regulation victory over Northwest Florida State within the National Junior College Athletic Association DI Women’s Basketball Championship game Monday night time on the Ford Wyoming Center.The title is the primary for Hutchinson, which had misplaced in its three earlier championship game appearances.”Northwest Florida State is a powerhouse,” Hutchinson head coach John Ontjes mentioned of the defending national champs. “But we showed a lot of toughness and grit. And there was some luck involved.”That luck got here within the last seconds of regulation.The Raiders had been main 68-66 with 2.5 seconds remaining when 6-foot-3 sophomore Celia Riviere stepped to the free throw line with a probability to ice the game. Riviere made the primary however missed the second to hold the Blue Dragons’ hopes alive.

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After a timeout Hutchinson inbounded the ball to freshman Hailey Jackson on the high of the important thing. Riviere stepped out to defend, however reached in and fouled Jackson as she went up for the shot. With simply 0:07 displaying on the clock, Jackson made all three free throws to pressure the additional session.”Hailey showed a lot of composure and a lot of courage to knock down those free throws,” Ontjes mentioned.Before Jackson stepped to the road, teammate Kiki Smith supplied some phrases of advice to her roommate.”I just told her, ‘You got this. This is your moment,'” Smith defined.

The time beyond regulation belonged to Hutchinson.With the rating tied at 71-71, the Blue Dragons obtained consecutive layups from Akaysha Muggeridge, Jackson and Smith to take a 77-71 lead. Northwest Florida State obtained inside 82-78 on a 3-pointer from Nevaeh Scott however Hutchinson made enough free throws down the stretch to full its excellent season.”We knew it would be a dog fight,” mentioned Smith, who performed all 45 minutes. “We knew it would come down to little things like free throws and taking care of the basketball.”Smith, who completed with 23 factors on 10-of-16 capturing, was named the event’s most useful participant.The 5-7 guard from Topeka, Kansas, additionally had 4 steals and had the unenviable activity of guarding Northwest Florida State’s Destiney McPhaul. The switch from Temple scored 29 factors within the Raiders’ semifinal victory over No. 2 Wabash Valley and was averaging 24.0 factors per game within the event.McPhaul had seven factors to give the Raiders a 9-6 lead early, however Smith shut down the high-scoring guard the remaining of the half.”It was a tough assignment, but I knew what I had to do,” Smith mentioned.Jackson broke a tie with a 3-pointer simply earlier than the tip of the primary quarter that gave the Blue Dragons an 18-15 lead.Hutchinson prolonged the benefit to 37-24 on back-to-back buckets from Smith and took a 39-28 lead into the locker room.McPhaul took benefit of having somebody different than Smith guard her within the third quarter as she exploded for 18 factors, together with a private 8-0 run, to put the Raiders on high. She scored the ultimate 4 factors of the quarter on two free throws and a twisting drive by way of site visitors and Northwest Florida State took a 57-55 lead into the fourth.”No. 2 kind of took over in the third quarter,” Ontjes mentioned of McPhaul.She had a three-point play as half of a 7-0 run that prolonged the Raiders’ lead to 66-60. Scott’s mid-range jumper made it 68-62 with 2:36 remaining, however Northwest Florida State did not rating again till Riviere’s free throw.McPhaul scored a game-high 30 factors, with Scott including 13 and Riviere 10.Jackson led the Blue Dragons with 25 factors adopted by Smith with 23, Monae Duffy pitched in 13 factors and Journey Armstead 11 earlier than they fouled out.The victory capped a stunning run for Hutchinson, which wasn’t even ranked within the NJCAA high 25 within the preseason. The Blue Dragons entered the ballot at No. 22 on Nov. 13 and at last cracked the highest 10 on Jan. 8 once they had been ranked No. 6. They lastly took excessive spot on Feb. 12 and by no means let it go.”This is a special group,” Ontjes defined. “All season long they were connected and they played with togetherness.”