Explosive first half powers Barton women to victory over Allen #GoBarton

The Barton Community College women's basketball team utilized a strong start Saturday afternoon at the Barton Gym for a cruise control 102-45 victory over Allen Community College.

Picking up their first conference win of the season, the Lady Cougars' even their mark at 1-1 while improving to 2-1 on the year. The Red Devils fall to 0-2 in league play and continue to search for their first win of the season slipping to 0-4. Barton's next contest comes Wednesday as the Cougars head back on the road with a 5:30 p.m. tip at Cowley College.

The 57-point margin of victory was the second largest in the series history set just two seasons ago when Barton defeated Allen 104-46 for a 58-point spread on February 4, 2019. It marks the ninth straight victory for the Lady Cougars in the series, including two of the last three meetings in which Barton has touched the century mark.

The Lady Cougars scored Saturday's opening four points before capping a 17-0 run stretching the lead to a 21-2 mark after the opening stanza. Freshman Lyndi Rumford led the charge scoring eight of her career high fourteen points in the opening frame.

Following a trio of Allen three-pointers including a pair from Melody Wilfong cutting the margin to 29-11 three minutes into the second quarter, the Lady Cougars responded with balanced scoring during a 19-0 run increasing the advantage to 48-11. Sophomore Bryn Willt capped the fifty-three point first half splitting the nylon from long distance just before the halftime buzzer sending the Lady Cougars into the locker room on top 53-17.

Resting on its' large advantage out of the locker room, Allen outmatched the Cougars in the third outscoring Barton 22-17 trimming the lead to 70-39 headed into the final frame.

Barton pieced together runs of 13-0 and 9-0 in the final frame grabbing their largest lead in the final seconds resulting in a 102-45 final outcome.

Four Cougars' reached double figure scoring, all of which set career highs. Queen Ulabo led all scorers tallying thirty points on 12-of-19 shooting. Dortland remained hot in reaching double figures for the third straight game, pouring in twenty-five points to go along with a game high eight assists. Rumford and Marliah Johnson led the Barton's bench scoring adding fourteen and eleven respectively. Sophomore Vanessa Oduah finished with a solid all-around performance pulling down a game high seven rebounds to go along with her seven assists and six points.

Leading the Red Devils scoring was Wilfong's sixteen points behind 4-of-5 shooting from deep with Adji Mbaye next on the scoresheet with seven points and a team leading six rebounds.