Eclipsing the century mark for the first time this season, the Barton Community College women's basketball team outscored Dodge City Community College 100-91 Wednesday night at the Barton Gym. The combined points was the most in the series history and the first time since the 2000 season either team surpassed triple digits since the 2000 season when Barton accomplished it twice. The Lady Cougars improve to 14-4 overall and begin the Jayhawk Conference season at 2-0 for the first time since the 2008 season. Dodge City drops to 0-2 in conference play and 13-5 overall. Barton will have its first conference road test on Saturday as the Lady Cougars travel to Concordia for a 5:30 p.m. tip-off against Cloud County Community College. The Lady T-birds are also undefeated in conference play at 2-0 and will bring an 11-6 overall record to the contest.
Having led by as many as thirteen points in the first half, the Lady Cougars again stretched the lead out to thirteen with fifteen minutes to play. A 13-1 Dodge City run cut the lead to one but the Lady Cougars responded with a 10-0 to seize back control by eleven midway through the half.
Barton maintained a double-digit lead through most of the rest of the game but a couple of bad possessions late allowed the Lady Conquistadors to draw to within six with only twenty-nine seconds remaining. Free throws by Kailai Brantner and Mariana Lambert down the stretch sealed the win as the Lady Cougars surpassed last year's win total of 13.
Cheyenne Hedrington led five Lady Cougars in double digit scoring with twenty-four points to go along with fifteen rebounds. The double-double performance was the sixth on the season for Hedrington and the fourteenth time this season to reach double digit scoring. Kailai Brantner also had a solid game shooting 6-of-7 from the floor in scoring seventeen points while dishing out a team high five assists. Mariana Lambert reached double figures for the ninth time in the last eleven games as the freshman from Brazil scored fourteen points. Brandy Winbush had perhaps her best all-around game as a Lady Cougar coming off the bench to score fourteen points and three assists. Also coming off the bench to reach double figures was Sharyce Warren with ten while Phikala Anthony added nine.
Dodge City had three players in double-digit scoring with two surpassing the twenty-point plateau. Azaria Nave scored seventeen or her team high twenty-three points in the second half to lead the Lady Conquistadors while Kelli Tolar and Kesha Buckner added twenty-one and thirteen points respectively. All three players tied for team honors in assists with four each while Buckner led in rebounding with eight.