Barton continues offensive explosion with 87-70 win at Pratt

Barton continues offensive explosion with 87-70 win at Pratt

The Barton Community College women's basketball team kept its high output offensive intact Saturday night at the Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt with an 87-70 win over the Beavers. That came off the heels of an 88-75 win over Colby which Barton scored 59 2nd half points, giving the Cougars back-to-back Jayhawk West games in the 80's. The Cougars moved to 5-3 in the West after a 0-2 start to the season. Barton is 13-9 overall while Pratt dropped to 1-7 and 11-11. The upcoming week will provide Barton with an opportunity to get a big leg up in the race for a home court playoff spot and make or break possible contention for the West title as Cloud County and Seward County come to the Barton Gym.

Highlights
Barton fell behind early in the contest, trailing as much as 9 at 17-8. The Cougars overtook Pratt 24-23 following a pair of free throws from Raven Adams with 8:56 to play. Barton continued to score at a rapid pace the rest of the half and eventually was able to get some separation between itself and Pratt late in the half. Barton finally got some stops while it continued to score and went on a 9-0 run late in the half to take a 45-34 lead on the Beavers with 2:06 to play. Barton took a 47-35 lead to intermission. It was a half that saw very little defense as both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field. Barton hit 17-of-32 shots for 53 percent while Pratt bettered that at 57 percent on 16-of-28 shooting.

The Cougars started out slow in the 2nd half and Pratt made a run, cutting the lead to 49-47 with 16:42 to play in the half. But the offense once again found itself ignited by a jumper from Netanya Jackson with 15:45 to play. That started another 9-0 to build an 11-point lead once again at 58-47. Barton would push the lead to 15 at 66-51 and cruise home for the win over the Beavers.

Alisha Fanshier had her 2nd straight game in the 20's this time netting 22 after dropping 27 against Colby. She is just the 2nd Cougar to have back-to-back 20-point games this year. Christina Caddy did so early in the West season. Fanshier also had 4 steals in the win. She was 1 of 5 Barton players to reach double figures. Jackson just missed a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds to go with 4 blocks and 5 assists. Dionne Harris hit double figures for the 3rd straight game and 4th time in the last 5 with 12 while Adams and Caddy each finished with 11. Sophomore Jara Shoemaker turned in one of her best outing on the season with 9 points and 8 rebounds, also just missing a double-double. Cari Guyton did get the double-double for Pratt with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Ann Pauly had 9 assists to lead the Beavers.

Barton will host Cloud Wednesday and Seward Saturday in a huge week of play for the Cougars. Barton is currently in a tie with Seward for 4th in the West at 5-3, just 1/2 game behind Cloud who is 5-2. Hutch leads the conference at 7-1 with Butler in 2nd at 6-2.  

Stats
Stats can be found was www.bartonsports.com  

Next
Feb 2 – v Cloud 6 pm (Jayhawk West game at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)