Cougars get in West win column with a pair of road wins

Cougars get in West win column with a pair of road wins
The Barton Community College women's basketball team found itself 0-3 in the West with 3 home losses heading into the extended weekend but righted the ship with a pair of crucial road wins to bring its mark to 2-3 in the West. Barton won at Dodge 67-60 Monday night following a 72-65 win at Butler on Saturday. Barton is now 9-9 overall this season. The Cougars will look to reach the .500 mark in conference play as well when Hutchinson visits the Barton Gym Wednesday for a 6 pm tip. Hutch is 2-2 in the West and 15-3 overall, ranked No. 23 in last week's NJCAA poll.

Highlights
The Cougars had to hold off a determined Dodge City team Monday, not putting the game away until the final minute of play. A pair of free throws by Dodge tied the game at 60-all with 45 seconds left before the Cougars netted the final 7 points of the game and the win. Annie Kassongo gave Barton the lead at 62-60 on a jumper with 24 seconds left. From there the Cougars hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Kassongo ended with her 10th double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Raven Ward led Barton with a 21-point effort – matching her career-high for the Cougars. Abby McKenzie scored 10 off the bench to reach double figures for the 2nd time this season. It was also her 2nd double-double as she added 11 rebounds in the win. Hannah Rotolo led Barton with 4 assists and 5 steals while Kassongo added 5 blocked shots. Robin Parker had a huge game for the Conquistadors ending with game highs of 28 points and 18 rebounds. Marcella Sedoc added 17 points.

Saturday in El Dorado, Barton led nearly the entire contest but could never separate itself from Butler. The last time Butler led in the game was at 14-13 with 12 minutes left in the opening half but the Grizzlies stayed within striking distance and even tied the score on 3 more occasions with the latest coming at the 4:20 mark of the game and the score knotted at 62-all. At that point, Barton responded with an 8-0 run as Rotolo scored on a steal and layup and Ward added a jumper and 1-of-2 free throws to give Barton a 67-62 lead. Alisha Fanshier hit a free throw and Kassongo a bucket to make it 70-62 with 30 seconds left as the Cougars picked up their 1st West win of the young season.

Fanshier and Kassongo had huge nights for the Cougars as Fanshier became the 1st Cougar to reach the 30-point plateau in a couple of years. Her 30-point effort was the highest since a 38-point outburst by Kristine Silaraja during the 3rd place game the NJCAA tournament in 2008. Fanshier hit 6-of-7 3-pointers in the contest on the way to 30. That is also the highest number of 3's since Silaraja's school record effort in that 3rd place of 8 3-pointers. Kassongo did set a school record with 9 blocks in the win, just missing a triple double. She had 13 points and a whopping 18 rebounds to go with the 9 blocks. Alyisa Hart scored 13 points to lead 4 players in double figures for Butler.

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

Next
Jan 20 – v Hutch 6 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)