Barton women go 1-2 against 3 ranked teams in Colby

Barton women go 1-2 against 3 ranked teams in Colby
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team had a tough weekend, going 1-2 against 3 ranked teams at the Ambassador Classic in Colby. Barton started the Classic by beating No. 10 Iowa Western in easy fashion, then fell to No. 15 South Plains (Texas) and No. 13 Western Nebraska on the final 2 days. Barton led during the 2nd half of all the games. The Cougars are now 3-2 overall this season and will return to action Tuesday when they travel to perennial Jayhawk East power Cowley County for a 7 pm contest. Barton will be at home this weekend as they host the Pepsi Classic.

Highlights
Barton started the Ambassador Classic in great fashion, rolling to a 20-point lead during the opening half of the Iowa Western contest, before ending with a 78-59 win over the Reivers. Barton shot 46 percent from the floor in the win, dominated the paint with 44 points in the paint and added 26 points off 29 Iowa Western turnovers for the win. Sophomore point guard Andrea Barber led the way for the Cougars with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting and added 5 assists. Joining Barber in double figures were Gwen Edwards with 14 and DePrice Taylor with 13. Taylor also had 5 assists.

South Plains proved to be the biggest challenge for the Cougars as the Texans, most likely a Top 10 or Top 5 team when the new poll comes out next week, brought quickness and size to the court in the 88-76 win over the Cougars. Barton led most of the opening half and by as many as 9 points with 10 minutes left in the half. The Cougars led by 2 at intermission, 36-34. Barton continued to hold that lead for the opening stages of the 2nd half, leading 51-48 with 13 minutes to play in the game. That is when the Texans went on a 12-0 run keyed by a combined 10 points from Ashlee Roberson and Dominic Seals to take a 60-51 lead with 9:24 left as Barton was scoreless for 4 minutes. Late foul shooting pushed the lead to double figures by game's end. South Plains hit 20-of-32 shots during its 54-point 2nd half.

Taylor had her best game as a Cougars, scoring 27 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Edwards and Tiffany Haggen each scored 10 for Barton. Seals led South Plains with 25 followed by Roberson with 22.

The Cougars had their chances to end the Classic with a 2-1 mark, leading Western Nebraska nearly the entire contest before losing 80-77. The two teams traded the lead early in the game but  Barton built a 37-26 lead on Western Nebraska with 8 minutes to play in the opening half. The Cougars eventually lost all of that lead, trailing 41-40 late in the half before grabbing a 43-41 halftime lead. Barton did not trail in the 2nd half until there were less than 7 minutes to play. Barton retook the lead at 77-75 with 1:15 to play on a layup by Edwards. Following that, however, nothing seemed to go Barton's way. The Cougars were whistled for a foul with 1 minute left, giving Western Nebraska a shot at tying the game. As the Western's Victoria Martin was making the 1st free throw, Barton's Ipek Turkylimaz was whistled for a foul on the free throw lane for pushing Western Nebraska's Emma Beddome on the hip. Martin made her 2nd free throw to even the score at 77-all then Beddome went to the line with a chance to give Western Nebraska the lead. She made the 1st for a 78-77 lead but missed the 2nd. However, Barton was not able to collect the defensive rebound and Western Nebraska made it 80-77 on a jumper with 38 seconds to play. Barton had 2 chances to tie the game, but failed as Western Nebraska stayed unbeaten.

Edwards paced the Cougars with 20, followed by Turkylimaz with 19 points on 5-of-8 3-point shooting. Haggen added 11 and Taylor 10 for Barton.

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

Next
Tues, Nov 14 – at Cowley County, 7 pm (Non conference game at Arkansas City) 
Fri, Nov 17 – v McLennan (Texas), 6 pm (Pepsi Classic at the Barton Gym) 
Sat, Nov 18 v Kansas Wesleyan JV, 6 pm (Pepsi Classic at the Barton Gym)