The Barton Community College women's basketball team shook off a sluggish start Wednesday evening at the Barton Gym in rolling to a 77-53 win over Pratt Community College.
Trailing by one early in the second quarter, the Cougars closed out the frame on a 17-3 stretch including a 13-0 run to lead by 13 at the break. Closing out the third stanza with seven straight, Barton stretched its lead into the 20's with its largest lead coming in the game's final 90-seconds on Erin Foxhall's drive through the paint for a 24-point margin.
Barton's third consecutive win and seventh straight in the series improves the Cougars to 11-8 in conference and 14-11 overall while Pratt drops its 16th straight falling to 1-17 in league and 2-20 on the season.
Next up for the Cougars is a trip to the Power Plant in El Dorado for a 2:00 p.m. tip at Butler Community College.
The Cougars shot 45.5 percent overall 30-of-66 for the game, hitting 7-of-24 from long distance while the Beavers finished with a 38.9 percentage from the field on 21-of-54 shooting. Barton made the most of 26 Pratt miscues holding a plus-16 differential in points off turnovers while also winning the glass battle for the 19th time this season outrebounding the Beavers 40-32 with a five-plus advantage on the offensive side.
Brennan Kirchhoff's career high 20 points led all players, drilling four three-pointers including three straight in the first quarter putting Barton up six. Morgan Meyers knocked down all three of her treys in second half action to pour in 18 points. Jenny Nkem Womsi finished with two rebounds shy of her 11th double-double on the year, scoring 10 points with 8 rebounds as Danjsha Fanning put in solid 9 points and 9 rebound effort.
The Beavers had four in double-figures led by Christy Wiebe's 13 points followed by Chariah Daniels' 11 points. Ruth Sodipe added 10 points as did Lianna Washington behind 2-of-3 shooting beyond the arc.
RECAP
Kirchhoff's trio of treys erased the Beavers' largest lead of the night, turning the deficit into a 14-8 lead. Pratt fired back with seven straight and following an exchange of buckets, the Cougars went on a 13-0 run in five minutes to flip the script for good.
Womsi's bucket started the run with Kirchhoff banging her 4th triple on the next possession with Alissa Heskamp, Fanning, and Lili Shubert adding points with Kirchhoff closing out the stretch for a 29-17 lead with 1:47 remaining. The Beavers managed just a hoop and 1-of-2 trip to the line while Meyers and Mikaela Hall baskets finished off the 17-3 first half close-out putting Barton up 33-20.
Six straight out of the locker room getting contributions from Kirchhoff, Fanning, and Hall stretched the margin out with the Cougar defense forcing seven Pratt turnovers in the frame. The Beavers finished with 26 turnovers in the game with Barton taking advantage for a 16 point difference in the category.
Barton closed out the third frame with seven straight, adding a Womsi bucket to open up the final quarter for a 23-point lead. Pratt would later go on a 9-0 spurt cutting the deficit to 63-49 with 6:04 left but a pair of Kirchhoff free throws and Hall jumper pushed the margin back out comfortably.
Three pointers capped the night's scoring, Pratt's Washington draining hers with 1:19 with Meyers answering the bell 14-seconds later.