Second half dooms Lady Cougars in loss at Butler

Second half troubles spelled disaster Saturday afternoon at the Power Plant as the Barton Community College women's basketball team was blown out in the final twenty minutes dropping their second straight conference game losing 63-43 at No. 15 Butler Community College.   The Lady Cougars led by seven in the first half but were outscored by twenty-two points in the final twenty minutes to drop its second consecutive road game to start conference play and sinks to 8-5 on the season.   Bouncing back from a home opening loss on Wednesday, the Lady Grizzlies improve their season record to 11-2.   Barton will have a week from competition until hosting Cowley College on Saturday in a 1:30 p.m. tip at the Barton Gym.

Jumping out to an early five point lead, Barton saw Butler storm back with ten of the next eleven to be trailing by four.  Consecutive treys by Keneisha Winfrey and Regan Unruh followed by an old fashioned three-point play by Megan Jirak led the charge back as the Lady Cougars would settle for a three point 15-12 lead after the first quarter.

Alexus Bryson added her name to the three-point bombers and following two free throws by Jalisa Jones and another long ball by Winfrey, Barton's lead grew to seven 23-16 with six minutes to play.  The Lady Grizzlies answered with five straight then later closed the half with a 5-3 edge to close the Barton halftime lead to 28-26. 

Unfortunately for the Lady Cougars the wheels fell off in second half play beginning with three straight turnovers to open the half as Butler raced out of the locker room with the first nine points.   Winfrey's third of a career high five three pointers halted Butler's 11-0 run going back to first half action.  Following a Jirak 1-of-2 trip to the line drawing Barton to within three at 35-32 with 3:10 to play third quarter, it would be all Lady Grizzlies from there as a 10-2 run to close the quarter would take the lead out to 45-34.  

Again the Lady Cougars had no answer for the Lady Grizzlies with Butler taking the first seven points of the quarter cruising to the twenty point victory and holding Barton to under 30% from the field for the fifth time in the last six games.

Winfrey's season high fifteen points on 5-of-10 shooting including a sharpshooting 5-of-8 from behind the arc was one of only two Lady Cougars to reach double digit scoring.  Reaching double digits for the tenth time this season, Jirak added ten while Unruh led in rebounds with six and Bryson dished out a team high five assists.

Tamara Lee's four three pointers and Nakylia Carter's two long balls contributed to the duo leading Butler with fourteen points each.  Kyeria Hannah added eleven while Janee Arnold led with eight rebounds and four assists.