The shooting woes continued for the Barton Community College women's basketball team as the Cougars were cold from the field while the opponent drained long range shots for the second straight contest, resulting in a 72-60 loss Saturday to Division II 5th ranked Labette Community College in the Best Western/Cougar Booster Club Classic.
The Cougars connected on just 37.1% from the field on their 62 attempts and despite the Cardinals shooting a respectable 43.5%, Labette knocked down 13-of-24 (54.2%) from beyond the arc in outscoring Barton by 21 points from long range.
Barton wraps up non-conference play at 3-3 on the season while Labette improves to 1-1. The Cougars open up conference play on Wednesday hosting Garden City Community College in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.
In earlier action, 20th ranked Hutchinson knocked down a trey on its opening possession and never relinquished the lead in outscoring Howard College in each quarter for an eventual win. The Blue Dragons improved to 6-0 while Howard's split results of the weekend leaves the Hawks at 3-3 on the year.
RECAP
Barton had its best shooting frame of 42.1% but four Cardinal three-pointers would give Labette a 20-18 lead after the first quarter. The Cougars built their largest lead of the night at four on a 6-0 run to the midpoint but were outscored 6-1 down the stretch to trail by two.
Cora Anderson and Lili Shubert jumpers surged Barton back in front to open the second stanza. Four straight by the Cardinals was then answered by a 5-0 Barton run as Shubert canned a trey and Jenny Nkem Womsi sank a pair of free throws following the media timeout for the Cougars' last lead. Labette took the next seven and never relinquished the advantage the rest of the evening.
Coming out of the locker room Labette buried its 7th three-pointer but Brenna Kirchhoff answered with her second of the contest keeping the margin at six. Following a Cardinal bucket, Mikaela Hall's bucket followed by Shubert's second long range connection cut the deficit and after a Barton defensive stand, Anderson's 1-of-2 trip sliced the gap to two with six minutes remaining in the quarter.
In a pivotal point of the game, Labette held off Barton's rally with a 10-0, dropping another pair of triples to push the lead back out at 53-41 with three minutes left in the half.
Trailing by eleven headed into the final frame, Barton made chipped away at the deficit behind Kirchhoff's personal 5-0 run on her 3rd trey of the game to close within seven. The margin shrunk to just five at 61-56 following Quezia Bertoni's first collegiate triple with 5:03 remaining but despite forcing a Cardinal turnover, gave the ball right back on its offensive end for Barton's last opportunity of getting it to a single possession game. Labette buried its then 11th and 12th three-pointer on their ensuing trips, putting the final icing on the cake splashing their 13th in spoiling a tough Barton defensive effort with 41 seconds left for the final twelve point victory.
STATS
Hall's career high 15 points led Barton with Kirchhoff's 3-of-6 long range shooting scoring 11 points with Anderson finishing with 10. Kirchhoff, Dayjsha Fanning, and Hall helped lead Barton to a nine rebound edge with five each while Kirchhoff, Fanning, and Anderson shared team distribution honors with three each.
Tamiah Robinson, Daizy Wilson, and Kayla Braxton-Young combined for 12-of-20 from long range with Robinson leading the scoring with 18 points while dishing 6 assists. Wilson finished with 17 points while Braxton-young scoring 15 points, all coming off her 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Ishuanna Hunter led in rebounds with 10 boards.