Cougars lock up top 3 finish with win at Colby

Cougars lock up top 3 finish with win at Colby

The Barton Community College women's basketball team locked up a top 3 finish and is still in the running for 2nd place in the Jayhawk West with a 65-49 win over Colby Wednesday night at the Community Building in Colby. Barton improved to 11-4 in the West with just one game remaining in the regular season. Barton will host Pratt Saturday at the Barton Gym. Barton is currently one game behind Cloud (12-3) in the West but the Thunderbirds have a date at West Champion Hutch (14-1) Saturday to end their season. Colby ends its regular season at 5-11 in the West and 10-20 overall. The Trojans will more than likely be the No 7 seed in the West in the upcoming Region VI playoffs.  

Highlights
The game was almost two totally opposite halves as the two teams struggled to score in the opening 20 minutes of play. Barton held Colby to just 4 field goals in the opening half, leading 22-11 at intermission. Barton struggled themselves to an 8-of-30 shooting half but Colby hit just 4-of-24 shots from the field in the 1st half.

Both teams heated up in the 2nd with the Cougars knocking down 17-of-33 shots for 52 percent in the final 20 minutes. That allowed Barton to post a 43-point 2nd half on the way to the win – the 8th in the last 9 West games and 11-of-13 since a 0-2 start to West play. Colby also picked up its scoring in the 2nd half, making 13 field goals and netting 38 points of its own.

Barton took the lead for good over an extended run in the 1st half. Barton trailed 8-5 with just less than 15 minutes to play before going on a 12-0 run to take a 17-8 lead with 7 minutes to go. Colby finally broke the ice with a 3-pionter to make it 17-11 with 5:28 left but didn't score again after that. The 3-pointer was Colby's only points in the final 14:45 of the half as Barton finished the half on a 17-3 run.

Barton pushed the lead to 20 six minutes into the 2nd half and got it as high as 21 before Colby cut the lead to 53-41 with 3:36 to play. Barton responded with a quick 4-0 run and a 57-41 lead with less than 2 minutes to play then coasted to the win.

Netayna Jackson led the Barton offense with 20 points and 9 rebounds. She also had 8 blocked shots in the game. Christina Caddy scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double while Alisha Fanshier scored 11 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and handed out 5 assists. Raven Adams and Dionne Harris had 5 and 4 steals for Barton. Colby was led by Hannah Thornton with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Barton will close out the regular season Saturday when Pratt comes to the Barton Gym for a 6 pm tip. With a win and a Cloud loss at Hutch, Barton would tie the Thunderbirds for 2nd in the West with 12-4 record. It that would be the case, the outcome of the Seward at Butler game would determine whether Barton or Cloud would be the No 2 seed in the Region VI playoffs. A Butler win would give the Cougars the 2nd seed while a Seward win would give the Thunderbirds the 2nd seed.  

Stats
Stats can be found was www.bartonsports.com  

Next
Feb 26 – v Pratt 6 pm (Jayhawk West game at the Barton Gym in Great Bend)