The 18th ranked Barton community College women's basketball team started slow but won every quarter Friday night for a pull-away 76-48 victory over Redlands Community College in day one of the Best Western Angus Inn and Cougar Booster Club Classic.
Now 4-0 on the season, Barton will take on Division II 6th ranked Labette Community College (4-1) in Saturday's 5:30 p.m. game. The Cardinals gave 5th ranked Hutchinson Community College fits in the earlier contest before the Blue Dragons held off the charge winning 74-63. Hutchinson improved to 5-0 and will play Redlands (1-2) in the 1:00 p.m. Saturday game.
Jenny Nkem Womsi shared team high scoring honors with 18 points, grabbing 11 rebounds to record her third double-double of the year while Acorionna Lard matched the output with 18 points and another solid floor game of adding three assists and three steals. Alissa Heskamp rounded out the double digit scoring with 14 points as nine Cougars contributed.
Barton shot 44.6% on the night, 5-of-16 behind the arc and added 13-18 shooting from the stripe while outrebounding the visiting Cougars by a plus-8 margin.
Isabella Stafford and Hannah Harris were the lone Redlands players to get into double figures with 11 and 10 points respectively. The Cougars were 37.5% from the field, 4-of-18 beyond and added 8-of-10 tosses from the free throw line.
Barton started off slow on 2-of-6 shooting through the first five minutes but started heating up in finishing the quarter at 50% with a 17-15 lead.
The Cougars had trailed 15-13 in the latter stages of the opening frame before putting Redlands in the tail lights on a 12-0 run. Womsi, who scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first half, started the stretch before tacking on six more during the run to break it open. Shubert closed out the second frame on a personal 5-0 run including a triple giving the Cougars a 41-25 edge to the halftime break.
The teams played the third quarter relatively even, Barton adding just three to its lead before getting the best of the visiting Cougars in the final ten minutes tacking on nine more for the final 28 point margin.