Big lead fades away, Barton women drop home loss to Seward County #GoBarton

No lead is safe in the Jayhawk Conference as the Barton Community College women's basketball team found out Wednesday evening in taking a 65-57 loss hosting Seward County Community College.

Barton led by as many as seventeen points with seven minutes left in first half play but from there on, turnovers and foul problems would catch up to the Cougars in getting outscored by twenty-five points the rest of the game.

The second straight home loss slides Barton to 8-11 in conference play and 12-13 overall while Seward County solidifies their fifth-place conference standing at 11-7 and 16-8 on the season.

The Cougars conclude their brief two-game homestand Saturday before their bye week in hosting 7th ranked Dodge City Community College on Hall of Fame Day. A 5:30 p.m. tip-off time is slated for the contest, an earlier 2:00 p.m. start for the Hall of Fame Induction ceremony with recognition taking place between the women and men contests.

Despite limited court time due to rare foul problems, Vivian Onugha led the Cougars with a game high 21 points and 11 rebounds notching her 15th straight and 21st double-double of the season.

Onugha was sent to the bench with 1:50 left in first half action with the Cougars lead down to nine points. Three of the nine turnovers in the frame ensued including leading to a Saints buzzer-beater cutting the margin to five going into the halftime break.

A Seward County jumper opened second half scoring with Brittany Simpson answering on Barton's end with a triple pushing the gap back to six. On the defensive end, Onugha was whistled for her fourth foul heading back to the bench with 8:27 left on the third period clock.

Simpson helped carry the Cougars for the next four minutes, sinking a pair of free throws then draining her second triple after Keyona Hall's bucket pushing Barton's gap back out to eleven with 4:23 left.

It would be the last of Simpson's points on the night, finishing with 8 total, as the game went south for the sophomore and the rest of the Cougars with Seward County scoring the next fifteen points including taking their first lead with 58 seconds left in flipping the scoreboard to a 42-38 visitor edge heading into the fourth quarter.

Enter back Onugha for the final frame, scoring Barton's first four points cutting the deficit to one. The Saints responded with five straight and again led by seven after Getrude Mapiye fouled out with 6:02 left leaving the freshman's final box score with a career high and game leading 14 rebounds and 6 blocks with 4 assists.

A pair of Regina Donanu buckets finishing off her 8-point outing and another Onugha basket sliced the gap back to three with 3:46 left.

The Saints piled on the next eight points for their largest lead of twelve with 1:17 on the clock, Hall's jumper finishing with eight points rounding out Barton's scoring as Seward County rode out their first victory at the Barton Gym since 2020.

Ari Gordon paced Seward County with 15 points along with a stat-stuffing 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 5 steals. Allie Myers added 11 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals with Avery Marchino contributing 11 points.