Broncbusters hang tough, eventually fall to No. 1 Hutch

Garden City, KS-Greg Franklin's team had all the momentum, and then it disappeared in an instant.  

Kiki Smith drained six 3s and finished with 28 points, Hailey Jackson chipped in 19 points, and No. 1 Hutchinson finished off a perfect regular season with a 74-64 victory on Wednesday night at Conestoga Arena. The Blue Dragons improved to 30-0 and 24-0 in conference. 

Maya Nieto scored 16 points off the bench for Garden City, which closed the regular season at 16-13 and 11-13 in the Jayhawk. Despite the loss, Greg Franklin's team still locked up a home playoff game on Saturday.  

Trailing by five early in the second quarter, the Broncbusters surged back with nine straight points. Sierra Driessen drilled a 3-pointer from the corner, Ana Ramos-Pires, who was limited to just 18 minutes because of foul trouble, used a beautiful drop step move for a left-handed layup, Driessen and Sariah Conley combined for back-to-back baskets, and Garden City had a 20-16 advantage with 4:17 remaining.  

Everything changed after that. 

After a lengthy review on a whether Bree Hornya committed a flagrant foul (the officials ruled that she did not), Hutchinson answered with a 13-2 run to close the half polished off by Jackson's buzzer-beating finger roll that put the top-ranked Blue Dragons up 29-22 at the intermission. 

Garden City never recovered after that.  

Smith canned an open 3 to begin the third quarter, Jackson sank two free throws, and Smith swished another long ball from the wing, giving the visitors their largest lead of the game, 39-22 with 8:17 on the clock.  

Oh, the missed opportunities. 

The Broncbusters managed to cut it to seven on Nieto's triple with 2:39 left in the third. But with a chance to trim the deficit to four, the freshman missed an open trey from the right wing. Hutchinson scored the next four points, and Garden City never got any closer than eight the rest of the way. 

Antonicia Moultrie posted a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds for Garden City, which will host Cloud County at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament.