Barton wraps up outright Jayhawk West title with win at Colby

Barton wraps up outright Jayhawk West title with win at Colby
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team checked a goal off Wednesday night, wrapping up the school's 1st Jayhawk West Championship since 1999. The Cougars put the finished touches on it with a sluggish 54-38 win over Colby in the Community Building. The win gave Barton the outright title with a 14-2 West record. Barton had already clinched a share of the title Saturday. The Cougars, ranked No. 7 in the NJCAA, conclude their regular season with a 28-2 mark – the most wins ever during the regular season at Barton. The most wins all-time is 34 on 2 occasions. Colby fell to 6-9 in the West and 11-18 overall. Barton will have Saturday off before returning for post season play Wednesday. The Cougars will open Region VI action by hosting Neosho at 6 pm. Neosho is the 8th seed from the West and is 4-25 on the year with 1 game to play. If Barton wins that contest, the Cougars will play at 7 pm Saturday at Koch Arena in Wichita.

Highlights
The offensive was sluggish in the win, scoring the lowest point total of the season against the Trojans. Barton's previous low was 55 on a pair of occasions. The 38 points, though, was the 2nd lowest total allowed by Barton in West play. Barton had beaten Dodge City earlier this year 88-36.

Barton hit just 34 percent from the floor in the opening half with more than half its shots being 3-pointers. The Cougars connected on just 5-of-17 3's in the opening half and hit just 11-of-32 overall. The Cougars defense was up to the task, however, limiting Colby to just 7-of-32 shooting including a 3-of-19 effort on 3's. That allowed Barton to take a 27-17 lead to half.

In the 2nd half, Barton moved away from the 3-point attack to the inside and shot 42 percent in the half. Only 6 of Barton 26 shots were from behind the arc in the 2nd half. That allowed 6-5 post Inga Muciniece to have a big 2nd half scoring. She hit 5-of-9 shots from the floor and finished with 13 points in the half. She ended the game with 19 points and 17 rebounds. Colby continued to fire up 3-pointers in the 2nd half, hitting just 4-of-21. For the game, 40 of the 67 shots Colby took were from behind the arc. The Trojans hit 7 of those 40 shots for 18 percent.

Joining Muciniece in double figures for Barton was Ipek Turkyilmaz with 14. She did shoot well from the perimeter, hitting 4-of-9 3's and now has 76 on the season – 5 shy of tying the single season mark at Barton. Brooke Conley added 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from behind the arc as the freshman from Derby continues to get back in the flow, playing for the 2nd time after missing 6 straight games. The Cougars played the game without starting point guard Courtney Sturdivant, who was resting a foot injury and should be ready to go for the Region VI playoffs.

The 1st round match up with Neosho is set as the Panthers have clinched the final spot in the East. That is the only match up set for sure in the women's bracket, which remains jumbled atop the East where there could be a 4-way tie for the top spot in the Region after Saturday.

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

Next 
Wed March 5 – v Neosho, 6 pm (Region VI playoffs at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)