Barton continues payback tour during Region VI Tournament

Barton continues payback tour during Region VI Tournament
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team is currently on a tour of paybacks. The 2nd of those came in the Region VI Tournament semifinals as Barton took care of Coffeyville at the Bicentennial Center Tuesday afternoon. Barton knocked off the Red Ravens, 71-64, to move within a single game of advancing to the NJCAA National Tournament for the 1st time in 5 years. Barton will get the opportunity to seek one last payback at the Region VI tournament Wednesday when the Cougars tangle with Jayhawk West champion Seward County at 6 pm. Barton (22-11) and the No. 6 ranked Saints (31-2) will met for the 3rd time this season.

Highlights
The Cougars win over Coffeyville was the 2nd straight win in Salina over a team that had beaten them earlier this year. Heading into the Region Tournament, of the Cougars 11 losses, Barton had beaten 6 of those teams accounting for 6 of the 11 losses. The Cougars took revenge on Cowley County Monday night for a November loss.

Barton did likewise with Coffeyville Tuesday, a team that had beaten Barton back in November as well. That leaves Barton just 3 teams – totaling 4 losses – they have not beaten this season. Seward County has given Barton 2 of its losses, winning by a 65-62 score in Great Bend and a 62-60 score in Liberal in the regular season finale. The other two teams Barton has not beaten this season are Northeastern Oklahoma and Eastern Oklahoma.

In the win over Coffeyville, Barton jumped out to a 9-2 lead and never trailed the remainder of the game. Coffeyville's only tie the game was at 2-all. The Red Ravens did close the gap to a pair at 13-11 but the Cougars responded with an 11-1 run to give them a 24-12 lead with 10 minutes to play in the 1st half. Barton would get that lead to as high as 17 at 38-21. The Cougars ended the half up 38-24. It was a half that saw Barton hold the Red Ravens to just 7 field goals and force them into 15 turnovers.

Barton would not let the Red Ravens make a serious run in the 2nd half until it was just about too late. The Cougars never lost their double digit lead – getting as high as 18 at 62-44 with 5:55 to play – until 2:19 was left to play when Red Ravens made it 67-58. Coffeyville took the lead down to 6 with 1:29 left but that would be as close as they would get. Barton pushed the lead back to 71-61 as the Cougars his 4-of-8 free throws in the final minute.

Barton was led by Sunshine Uli with 19 points and 9 rebounds – just missing her 5th double double of the season. She was one of 3 Cougars in double figures as Vivian Ewalefo added 17 points and Brandi Harris 14 points. Harris also had 4 steals in the game. Mayowa Onikute – without a double digit rebound game all regular season – collected 10 boards after grabbing 11 in the win over Cowley. She also led the Cougars with 4 assists.

Stats
Full box scores and stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Wed., March 16 – v Seward, 6 pm (Region VI Championship at the Bicentennial Center in Salina)