The Barton Community College women's basketball team hit the conference road for the first time of the season on Saturday but came up shy of a victory as free throws down the stretch ballooned the margin to an 86-76 loss at Independence Community College.
Dropping to 1-2 in conference play and 5-7 on the year, the Cougars wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule on Wednesday in hosting Neosho County Community College in a 5:30 p.m. tip. Independence stays atop the Jayhawk East standings with the victory at 3-1, improving to 5-5 on the year.
The Cougars dug an early 16-3 hole and trailed by ten after the first quarter but outscored the Pirates 23-14 in the second frame to face just a 37-36 deficit into the locker room.
Independence stretched the lead back out to eight mid-way through the third quarter before the Cougars put together a 7-0 run capped by a Tiffany Dortland trey to claw back to within one. Another Dortland trey tied it up at the 1:45 mark with Richelle Turney's perfect trip to the line twenty seconds later giving Barton its first lead since four minutes left in the second quarter. The Pirates closed out the frame with five straight, the final three coming on a last second three-pointer to lead 56-53.
Six straight points from Kolby Davis to begin the final quarter put Barton back out in front as consecutive treys from Bryn Willt giving the Cougars its largest lead of seven with seven minutes remaining.
A pivotal 11-0 run by the Pirates put the teams in a dogfight for the final five minutes as Independence would pull in front by four. The Cougars closed to within one at 72-71, and within two points with 1:40 but missed opportunities spelled doom.
Coming up with a pair of defensive stands, the Cougars had two transition chances but couldn't produce points as Independence countered later with three straight points in building a five point lead. A Davis 1-of-2 trip to the line with thirty-six seconds cut the margin to four but the Pirates sank all six of their charity tosses to balloon the final margin to ten.
Turney paced four Cougars in double digits with twenty-three points as Barton played without the services of point guard Vanessa Oduah and reserve guard Hannah Valentine. A pair of career bests helped fill the void with Davis' inside game producing nineteen with Willt pumping in eleven. Dortland finished with twelve points while Queen Ulabo contributed ten.
Brittany Reeves led a trio of Pirates in double figures with twenty-three points while Deairah Mays posted fourteen and Maisa Marcal adding eleven.