Barton secures outright Jayhawk West title with win over Pratt

Barton secures outright Jayhawk West title with win over Pratt
The Barton Community College women's basketball team made it back-to-back Jayhawk West titles Saturday night with a 70-53 win over Pratt at the Barton Gym. The Cougars won the West title outright with for the 2nd straight season with the win. Barton is 43-5 in West play the past 3 seasons. The Cougars ended the regular season with a 14-game winning streak, which they will take into Region VI play. Barton concluded the regular season with a 24-6 overall mark and 14-2 record in West play. Pratt ends it regular season at 10-20 overall record and a 3-13 conference mark. The Cougars will be at home Tuesday for its Region VI playoff open against Allen County. Barton is the top seed in the West in the playoffs while Allen is the 8th seed in the East. Tip for the contest will be at 6 pm at the Barton Gym.

Highlights
Barton used a big run in the opening half to take control of the game. With the game tied at 4-all in the opening 4 minutes Barton put together a 12-0 run that turned into a 17-2, 26-4 and eventually 34-6 as Barton took a 38-10 lead with 5 minutes to play in the half. That would be the biggest lead of the game for the Cougars who coasted to the win. Barton hit 10-of-11 shots during the run. Barton shot 53 percent in the opening half and forced Pratt into 14 turnovers to just 4 for the Cougars.

Barton's lead was the 20's most of the half. Pratt did get the margin as low as 14 in the final 2 minutes. Barton hit just 31 percent from the floor in the 2nd 20 minutes and were outscored 32-27 by the Beavers. Samira Harper led a balanced Barton attack with 12 points followed by Danielle Bird with 11. Not only did all 9 Cougars who suited up score but all of them had at least 5 points. The game was also the 1st time point guard Courtney Sturdivant played first extensive minutes since injuring her knee 7 games ago. Sturdivant played 20 minutes and ended with 5 assists and just 1 turnover to go with 5 points. Annie Kassango and Kristine Silaraja both had 8 boards to lead Barton. Pratt was led by Wyneisha Webb with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists.

The Cougars will host Allen County in opening round play Tuesday at the Barton Gym. The contest will be the 1st in defense of Barton's Region VI title last season. The Cougars won the title on their way to a 4th place finish at the NJCAA National Tournament. The past 4 seasons, Barton is 10-2 in the Region VI playoffs.

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

Next
March 3 – v Allen 6 pm (Jayhawk Region VI playoffs at the Barton Gym)