Lady Eagles Fall In Opening Round

From School Reports

The Meridian Community College Lady Eagles entered the first round of the NJCAA Division I Women’s National Tournament in Salina, KS against Hutchinson Community College (KS) looking to score a huge upset over the number two seeded team in the field. The Lady Eagles were unable to accomplish its dreams of an upset over the undefeated Lady Blue Dragons and fell 75-42. Hutchinson improved to 34-0 with the opening round win and MCC dropped its overall record to 22-11.

The Lady Eagles will look to stay alive in the tournament with an elimination game against Otero Junior College (CO) on Thursday morning at the Bicentennial Center at 10 a.m. Otero lost its opening round game to Walters State Community College (TN) by a final score of 61-51.

"I really want to compliment our team on playing so hard in the first half," said MCC head coach Hilary Allen. "We give them (Hutchinson) a lot of credit because they played an outstanding 40 minutes of basketball."

Hutchinson opened the game by outscoring the Lady Eagles 13-4, but MCC was able to bounce back to close the gap. Chasity Kearney drained a pair of jump shots for the Lady Eagles to make the score 13-8 with 15:12 left in the first half.

The Lady Blue Dragons silenced the Lady Eagles moments later to go on a 9-0 scoring run to extend its lead to 22-8 with 12:23 left in the first half. Hutchison built its largest lead of the first half by taking a 31-15 lead with 8:29 left in the half. Chelsea Small and Jackie Patterson combined for 10 points over the next five minutes. MCC started to slowly creep back into the game with 4:22 remaining to cut the lead to 33-29.

The 14-2 run was led by Gelese Lampton, who scored a pair of three-point baskets, while Kearney added a three-point bucket. Hutchison was able to fight off the Lady Eagles and hang on to a 36-29 lead at halftime.

MCC ended the first half by shooting 33 percent from the floor by draining 12 baskets on 36 attempts. Hutchison ended the half by shooting 31 percent from the floor, but the Lady Blue Dragons had the huge edge in the rebounding department by grabbing 35 total rebounds. MCC only managed 22 total rebounds in the opening half and the Lady Eagles went scoreless from the free throw line on six attempts.

Kearney and Lampton led the Lady Eagles with nine points apiece at the end of the first half, while Norianna Haynes ended the half with seven points. Small and Patterson led the way for the Lady Blue Dragons with nine points apiece.

Hutchison came out of the locker room and scored the first 12 points of the half to take a 48-29 lead with 14:18 left in the game.

The Lady Blue Dragons never let the Lady Eagles draw any closer and cruised to the 75-42 victory over MCC. MCC shot only 15 percent in the second half and finished the game by shooting 25 percent from the floor. Hutchinson had the largest advantage in the game on rebounds over the Lady Eagles 58-33 and the Lady Blue Dragons ended the game by shooting 35 percent. Hutchinson scored most of its points in the paint by outscoring MCC 36-8. MCC was led by Haynes with 11 points and six rebounds, while Kearney ended the game with nine points and six rebounds.

Lampton scored eight points in the loss, while Deanna Bolton added five points off the bench. Patterson led Hutchison with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Small finished the game with 13 points.