Hutchinson survives big night from Mack to outlast Angelina, 72-59
LUBBOCK, Texas – Makayla Vannett led four players in double figures with 18 points, and Hutchinson Community College overcame the performance of Natasha Mack to outlast Angelina College 72-59 in a second-round matchup at the NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championships Tuesday at the Rip Griffin Center.
Mack, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, poured in a game-high 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Lady Roadrunners (29-5). But Angelina had just one other player with more than seven points.
By contrast, Jada Mickens added 13 points for the Blue Dragons while Tijuana Kimbro added 12 points and six rebounds and Tia Bradshaw chipped in 11 points.
“It was a challenge because defending (Mack) was hard and we were triple-teaming her trying to not let her score, and she was still getting buckets,” Mickens said. “Our scouting report was that we need to make sure we did our part on every player. We had to make sure we stuck with the plan and followed through, and we got the win.”
While Mack was able to get loose – though Hutchinson head coach John Ontjes felt after the game his team did a good job defensively on her – the rest of the Lady Roadrunners struggled.
Angelina was just 1-for-20 from the 3-point line after coming into the game hitting almost 32 percent from beyond the arc. Simran Mayfield was the only other Angelina player to score in double figures with 13 points.
“Their supporting cast didn’t really hurt us,” Ontjes said. “We had to have (1-for-20 from 3-point line) happen for us to win the game because if their guards are making threes they’re tough to defend and we can’t double (Mack). We doubled and triple-teamed her and she still made baskets, but it was a credit to our kids because they fought so hard.”
Vannett and Kimbro each had a bucket in what would prove to be the decisive 11-2 run midway through the second quarter. That ballooned a six-point lead into a 39-24 advantage for the Blue Dragons, and they were ale to keep the Lady Roadrunners at arm’s length from there.
“It was good to get that we got that stretch in the second quarter,” Mickens said. “It helped us for sure, but we knew we had to continue because any team, especially in the national tournament, can come back at us in the snap of a finger.”
Hutchinson set the tone of the game early by scoring the first eight points of the contest, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Tia Bradshaw and Jada Mickens to start. But the Lady Roadrunners were able to chip away at that lead late.
Buckets by Mia Perkins and Simran Mayfield pulled Angelina to 20-15 and the end of the quarter.
The Lady Roadrunners were within four points twice early in the second quarter before the Blue Dragons took control.
Milan Schimmel ad Tijuana Kimbro hit consecutive buckets, Makayla Vannett added a 3-pointer and Makayla Johnson drained a jumper as part of a 9-2 run that put the Blue Dragons up 39-24 with 98 seconds left in the first half.
Hutchinson also did a good job defensively on the Lady Roadrunners. Angelina went 0-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half and had nine turnovers.
“When you go 1 for 20 from three-point you’re not going to beat many teams,” Angelina head coach Byron Coleman said. “We’ve got three of the top seven and we just couldn’t buy a bucket from outside and that was the difference in the game. They did some good things that slowed us down, too, a little bit of transition and we just didn’t get many open looks early. Second half I thought we had some open looks and some of our outside shots weren’t even close.”