Barton survives scare with overtime win over Garden

Barton survives scare with overtime win over Garden
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team got a big-time scare from Garden City Saturday night at before surviving with a 77-67 overtime win in Jayhawk West action at the Barton County Gym. Barton trailed much of the game in the 2nd half but dominated the overtime period in a contest that saw 10 ties and 11 lead changes. The 10-point margin of victory was the largest lead either team had in the contest. With the win Barton runs its' winning streak to 13 games – the longest in 7 years at the school. Barton is now 2-0 in the West and 15-1 overall. Garden City falls to 0-2 in the West and 7-9 overall. The Cougars will travel to West co-leader Colby Wednesday night in a battle to remain at the top of the West.

Highlights
The game was tied at 31-all at half at again at 65-all after regulation. But much of the 2nd half was played with Barton trailing the Broncbusters. The Cougars lone lead in the final 5 minutes came at 62-61 when Sunshine Misa-Uli scored at the 3:19 mark. A Brianna Buchanan jumper evened the game at 65-all with 1:21 to play and neither team could score those final 81 seconds. Garden's Ebony Allen had a final chance for Garden but the Cougars' Maya Onikute stepped in and drew a charging foul with 3 seconds to play in the game. A final 35-foot shot by Sharece Love at the buzzer was just long for Barton sending the game to overtime.

On the foul by Allen, Onikute hit her head on the floor, suffering a concussion. She was taken to the hospital and later released. Following the Onikute injury, the Cougars finally seemed to play with a purpose. Barton scored early in the overtime period and dominated the extra 5 minute session.

Two free throws by Uli, a free throw KG Hellen and another Buchanan jumper gave Barton a 70-65 lead two minutes into the overtime. Hellen added a jumper and Buchanan two free throws as the lead went to 74-65 and Barton had secured its win over the pesky Broncbusters.

Hellen came off the bench to score a career-high 29 points for Barton. The sophomore from Detroit had missed the Cougars last 5 games due to injury and missing her flight to Las Vegas for the Dixie State Tournament. She responded by hitting 11-of-22 shots from the floor along with grabbing four rebounds, handing out 3 assists and snagging 3 steals. Her previous high was 16 points in her last outing. Also putting up career-high numbers was Buchanan, who poured in 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The bested her 21 points against Des Moines last season. Uli struggled scoring as the Cougars' leading scorer netted just 6 points, but the sophomore grabbed 10 rebounds and collected 4 steals from her post position. Onikute, hampered by foul troubles before getting hurt, led Barton with 5 assists in just 23 minutes.

Garden City hit a season-best 47 percent against the Cougars, including 5-of-11 3-pointers for a season best 45 percent. The Broncbusters good shooting didn't stop on field goals as Garden connected on 20-of-23 free throws as well. Barton, meanwhile, hit just 22-of-42 free throws.

Stats
Complete stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Wed., Jan. 11 – at Colby, 6 pm (Jayhawk West play at Community Building in Colby)