Cougars secure share of West title; wrap up top West seed in Region VI

Cougars secure share of West title; wrap up top West seed in Region VI
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team ended a 9-year drought on Jayhawk West titles, securing at least a share of the title Saturday night in a 59-42 win over Hutchinson at the Barton Gym. It is the 1st West title for the Cougars since 1999. Last season Barton finished 15-1 in the West, tied for the best record but were ineligible for the West title. The Cougars are now 13-2 in the West and 27-2 overall. Hutch fell to 10-4 and 21-7. The Cougars will conclude their regular season slate at Colby Wednesday night. A win over the 6-8 Trojans would give Barton the West title outright. Barton also locked up the top seed from the West in the Region VI playoffs. Barton will more than likely host Neosho in 1st round action at the Barton Gym March 5.

Highlights
The opening 20 minutes of play weren't the prettiest of the season as both teams' defenses won the half. Barton took a 23-20 lead to half as neither team shot 30 percent from the floor. Barton hit just 8-of-34 shots for 24 percent while Hutch hit 26 percent, going 6-for-23. At one point, the Blue Dragons went 7 minutes without a point. During a particularly offensively stagnate stretch, the two teams combined to score 7 points over 7 minutes. The Cougars led 12-10 with 12 minutes to play and led just 17-12 with 5 minutes to play. There were only 3 turnovers in that time but the two clubs combined to shoot 2-for-19 from the field.

The Cougar offense picked up in the 2nd half, scoring 36 points on 15-of-27 shooting from the field for 56 percent. Hutch continued to struggle offensively, hitting just 8-of-31 from the floor for its 2nd straight half of 26 percent shooting. In the 2nd half, Barton's Courtney Sturdivant hit 5-of-8 shots – mostly fast break layups – and Inga Muciniece hit 6-of-8 shots on the inside. That resulted in 15 fast break points and 24 points in the paint during the 2nd half alone. That after just 2 fast break points and 6 points in the paint in the opening 20 minutes.

The game turned in the 2nd half with Hutchinson leading 30-27 with 13 minutes to play. The Cougars followed with an 18-2 run to take 13-point lead with 8 minutes to play. During that stretch, Muciniece scored 6 points inside while Sturdivant and Turkyilmaz scored 6 on fast break layups. Turkyilmaz actually added a free throw to one of her fast break buckets. After taking a 45-32 lead with 8 minutes to play, Barton allowed Hutch inside 10 points just 2 more times before pulling away in the final 5 minutes for the win. Barton outscored Hutch 10-0 in the final 5:35 of the game for the 17-point win.

Sturdivant scored 17 to lead Barton followed by Turkyilmaz with 15 and Muciniece with 14 – 12 in the 2nd half. Muciniece led Barton with 10 rebounds while Turkyilmaz added 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Sturdivant had 6 assists to lead Barton. Amanda Fessenden scored 17 to pace the Blue Dragons.

The Cougars will conclude their regular season with a trip to Colby to battle the Trojans in the Community Building. Barton beat a pesky Colby team earlier this year in Great Bend, 83-62.

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

Next 
Wed Feb 27 – at Colby, 6 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Community Building in Colby)