Barton comes up short in upset bid at Seward; hosts Neosho in playoffs

Barton comes up short in upset bid at Seward; hosts Neosho in playoffs
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team gave the No. 6 ranked Seward County Saints all they wanted Saturday night before coming up just short on the home floor of the Jayhawk West Champions. Barton fell 62-60 to the Saints in the Greenhouse in Liberal, where Seward is now 189-2 in the past 14 seasons. The loss dropped the Cougars to 19-11 overall this season and 9-7 in the Jayhawk West. Seward County wrapped up the West title with a 14-2 mark and a 28-2 overall record. The Cougars did secure the No. 4 seed in the West and will host a 1st round playoff game for the 1st time since 2001. Barton will host to Neosho County Wednesday night at 7 pm at the Barton County Gym.

Highlights 
The Cougars once again gave a good battle on the road to one of the top teams in the nation but came up a bit short. Barton, trailing by as many as 13 points early in the contest at 24-11, worked its way back into the contest and even had a lead late in the game on the Saints home floor.

Barton but that 13 point 1st half lead to 7 by intermission, trailing the Saints 31-24 at the halfway mark. After Seward grabbed a brief 9 point lead early in the 2nd half, Barton began to whittle away at the lead and when Liberal native Victoria Carlile knocked down a 3-pointer for the Cougars, Barton had trimmed the lead to 43-42 with 12:33 to play in the contest. The Cougar took their 1st lead of the 2nd half when. Barton took its 1st lead of the 2nd half on a pair of Sunshine Uli free throws and pushed that lead to 46-43 when Vivian Ewalefo hit a layup with 10:57 to play to cap a 9-0 run by Barton that took the Cougars from 6 down to 3 up.

The Cougars held that lead over Seward for much of the next 5 minutes, pushing to as high as 51-45 with 9:26 to play. Seward followed with a 6-0 run over the next 3 minutes to take a 52-51 lead and the battle was over the final 6 minutes. The teams were tied at 54-all with 4 minutes to play but Barton would not score again until 15 seconds remained. The Cougars had 3 opportunities to tie the game with less than 3 minutes to play but missed 3 shots on one possession. That was followed by 3 straight turnovers as Seward pushed the lead to 58-54 with 28 seconds to play. Seward would hit 4-of-4 at the free throw to close the game and earn the win. For the game the Saints hit 16-of-17 free throws.

Barton was led in scoring by Vivian Ewalefo with 15 points. Uli had another big game, posting her 4th double-double of the season – all in Jayhawk West play – with 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Mayowa Onikute scored 13 as well for Barton to go with 4 assists and 6 rebounds from her point guard spot. Amanda Foster scored 20 to pace Seward.

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

Next
Wed., March 9 – v Neosho County, 7 pm (Region VI playoffs at the Barton County Gym)