Barton wins Dixie Tournament; rallies from 16 down in finals for OT win

Barton wins Dixie Tournament; rallies from 16 down in finals for OT win
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team played two of its best games of the year, and then rallied from a 16-point deficit in the championship game of the Dixie State College Holiday Tournament to capture the title. The Cougars won the event held in Las Vegas, Nev. to improve to 13-1 this season with wins over 3 Utah schools. Barton defeated the College of Eastern Utah in the opener, 73-52, and then rolled by host Dixie State in the semis by a 79-64 count. In the finals, Barton rallied for a 69-68 overtime win over Salt Lake Community College. Barton will now set it sights on Jayhawk West play starting this week. The Cougars will travel to Pratt Wednesday to tip off conference action.

Highlights
After rolling to a pair of easy wins in the 1st 2 games thanks to hot start, the Cougars found themselves on the opposite end of the spectrum in the finals against the College of Salt Lake. Barton hit just 3 of its 1st 30 shots from the floor against the Bruins. That allowed Salt Lake to build a 20-4 lead as Barton scored just 2 field goals the 1st 10 minutes of the game. The Cougars managed to find their rhythm the final 10 minutes of the half, cutting the score to 27-21 late in the opening half on a 3-pointer by Andrea Barber. Barton closed the half hitting 7 of its final 12 shots.

The Cougars again struggled to start the 2nd half and found themselves down by 11 points with 12:41 to play as the Bruins pushed the lead to 40-29. Brandi Harris scored 6 during an 11-2 run by Barton to cut the lead to 1 at 43-42 with 8:22 to play. That would be as close as Barton would until the final minute. Salt Lake led 56-48 with just 4:31 to play when the Cougars put together another run to close regulation. Maya Onikute made it 58-54 with 2:17 on a jumper then Sunshine Uli cut the lead to 58-55 with a free throw at the 1:22 mark. Harris hit a twisting layup with 1:06 to play following a Barber steal to make it 58-57. Onikute then tied it at 58-all with a free throw before another Barber steal gave the Cougars one last shot to win the game. A running layup by Onikute just missed, sending the game to overtime.

It was in overtime when Barton took its 1st lead of the game when Uli hit a layup 35 seconds into the extra session. The teams would trade the lead until a deadly 3-pointer from Onikute in the left corner with just more than 2 minutes to play. That ignited a 6-0 run capped by a put-back by Sharece Love with 20 seconds to play that gave Barton a 68-63 lead. Salt Lake still had one last chance to win the game after Barber hit just 1-of-2 free throws with 11 seconds left for a 69-66 lead. But Salt Lake shot a runner in the paint instead of putting up a 3, scoring with just 0.4 left in the game. An inbounds pass was all Barton needed to move to 13-1 and win the Dixie State Tournament.

Onikute led the Cougars to the win with 19 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Harris added 13, including several baskets at key times. Uli added 12 points and 5 rebounds while Barber scored 10. But Barber's 10 were as they included a 3-of-4 effort from the free throw line in overtime. As a team Barton was just 10-of-25 from the free throw line with Barber going 5-of-6. Barber also added 6 steals – 2 in overtime as the freshman came up big late. Barber also had 4 assists. The Cougars won despite hitting a dismal 33 percent from the field (27-of-83), 21 percent on 3-pointers (5-of-24) and 40 percent at the free throw line (10-of-25). The Cougars were also out-rebounded by a 57-39 margin. What balanced those poor numbers for Barton were the 33 turnovers the Cougars forced, scoring 30 points off those turnovers.

In the semifinal win over Dixie State, the Cougars jumped to a 24-5 lead less than 7 minutes into the game and never trailed by less than double figures the rest of the way. The lead grew to 27 at 65-38 with 12:37 to play before the Rebels close the gap late in the contest to 15. Harris scored a career-high 18 in the win, including a 3-pointer to just bet the buzzer at the half to give Barton a 21-point lead. Stephanie N'Garsanet added a career-high 16 points to go with 8 rebounds. Brianna Buchanan added 13 and Onikute 10. Barber led Barton with 8 assists and 5 steals.

The script was much the same in the 1st round game as Barton opened up a 21-6 lead just more than 10 minutes into the game and never trailed. A big start to the 2nd half put the game away as Barton turned an 8-point lead into a 47-30 lead with a 13-6 run in the opening 4:30 of the half. Uli, fresh off her flight into Vegas at 5:30 am that morning from her home in Honolulu, Hawai'i, scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in a game that tipped a 4 pm – less than 11 hours from her arrival in town.

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

Next
Wed., Jan. 4 – at Pratt, 6 pm (Jayhawk West play at Lesh Auditorium)

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