Saturday was as close as you could get to finding a David and Goliath-situation in the Jayhawk Conference but, unlike the original, the game versus sixth-ranked Hutch women and the Allen women was anything but an upset.
The Lady Devils lost 102-67, which marked their 14th straight loss and moved them to 2-14 this season and 0-6 in conference play.
The undefeated Blue Dragons came into the match-up with a huge physical advantage.
Hutch has nine players that are 58 or taller and four that are six foot or taller. The Lady Devils have just one active player thats six foot or taller and three others that are 58.
And it wasnt just the bigs that were undersized. Nearly all of Allens guards were at least a couple of inches shorter than their Hutchinson counterparts.
It really was just two extremes, head coach Rachel Janzen said. Theyre so long and tall and were just tiny. We know that about ourselves and we work to overcome that but tonight, their advantage was just too great for us to overcome.
That imbalance in size led to some stats that were tipped especially in the Blue Dragons favor.
After a half, Hutch had 18 offensive rebounds to Allens one and by the end of the game, the Blue Dragons had outrebounded the Lady Devils by 35.
It all came down to blocking out, Janzen said. Weve got to be able to block out. Thats the only way well be able to compete with a team like Hutch. Hopefully, as the season goes on, well start to see more and more improvement.
The Lady Devils kept it close early but a 10-0 first-quarter run pushed Hutchs lead to 14 early.
Allen was able to get within nine a couple times in the second quarter but the Blue Dragons extended their lead to nearly 20 by the end of the half and almost 30 by the end of the third quarter to leave the Lady Devils in the dust.
Hutchinson subbed out all of their starters to start the fourth quarter but even then, the Blue Dragons still had match-up advantages and continued to balloon their lead throughout the quarter until the end of the game.
Theyre a great team, Janzen said. You have to give them credit. Theyll be the best team that well see all year. But Im also proud of our girls. No matter the score, they never gave up. Hutch beat us but it wasnt for lack of effort on our end.
Despite the blowout, several Lady Devils put up decent offensive numbers including freshmen Ariel Walker and Gabby Guzman who each chipped in with 22 and 20 points followed by 10 for sophomore Jakira Wilson, seven for sophomore ChrisAlee Patterson, three for freshman Paige Jensen, two for freshman Melvia Seymore and one for sophomore Alecia Verge.
The Lady Devils will have their best chance to break their losing streak on Wednesday when they host winless Northwest Kansas Technical College before heading to Barton for the first road action of the new year.
