(Pictured center: Blinn College's Hannah Humphrey)
Hannah Humphrey put on a shooting clinic on Saturday.
The sharpshooting freshman guard drilled eight 3-pointers and finished with 26 points to lead the 19th-ranked Blinn College women's basketball team to a 93-82 Region XIV home victory over Bossier Parish at the Kruse Center in Brenham.
Humphrey's season-high scoring outburst helped Blinn to its 20th victory of the season. The Buccaneers are now 20-3 overall and 9-3 in region play.
"I think with us being unselfish, no matter who gets the ball, they will have an opportunity to score and be successful," Humphrey said. "I was able to play the way I did today because my teammates had good touches inside the paint and helped me create open looks."
With her teammates assisting her, Humphrey did her part early and often, sinking six treys in the first half while finishing with 20 points. The first-year shooter hit from all over the arc, with each converted deep ball eliciting increasingly louder reactions from the Blinn bench.
Humphrey finished her 3-pointer display with a pair of triples in the opening minutes of the second half.
"Hannah hadn't been shooting great the last couple of games, so this was nice to see," Buccaneers head coach Jeff Jenkins said. "I thought her teammates did a great job of finding her in the zone, and Hannah is a really good shooter, so any time she has open 3s you want her to take them."
Freshman guards Makayla Patterson (two), Tiffany Tullis (one), and Jakoriah Long (one) also got in on the 3-point barrage. The Buccaneers needed every one of them to stave off the visiting Cavaliers.
Blinn led just 25-24 after the first quarter before building a 51-39 halftime advantage, but Bossier Parish (11, 4-8 Region XIV) pulled within six points in the third period and trailed just 78-70 early in the fourth quarter.
Blinn was ahead 72-61 heading into the final period of play.
Freshman guard Skylar Barnes helped the Buccaneers keep their distance in the second half with 11 of her 14 points, sophomore forward Dej Adrian poured in eight of her 14 points in the second half, and Patterson tallied seven of her 14 after the break as well.
After the Cavaliers cut Blinn's lead to eight in the fourth quarter, Adrian and Barnes hit back-to-back jumpers and the Bucs were in control from there.
"The key for us was ball movement, making sure everybody had touches and everybody had shots," Patterson said. "We have a lot of depth on this team … our starters, our depth … everybody can come into the game and make something happen."
Saturday's victory gave the Buccaneers their second 20-win campaign in three seasons. Blinn finished 25-7 in 2019-20 and 18-6 last season.
"I don't want our team to take this for granted," Jenkins said. "We went through a tough stretch where we didn't win 20 games, so this is a big deal and I'm proud of my players. This isn't an easy thing to do with our preseason schedule and our region; it's not easy to win 20."
The Buccaneers will visit Jacksonville College for a region clash at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8, in Jacksonville, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 42 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
