The 17th ranked Barton Community College women's basketball team never trailed in Saturday evening's conference battle with Hutchinson Community College but a 21-point third quarter was barely enough in holding off the Blue Dragons' second half charge to prevail 78-74.
Avenging a five point loss back on November 26 on the Blue Dragons' home floor, Barton splits the season series improving to a 3rd place 11-4 mark and 17-4 on the year while Hutchinson, receiving votes in the latest national poll, slips into 4th place at 11-5 and 17-5 overall.
One of the longest trips of the season looms next on Barton's schedule with a Wednesday journey to Independence Community College in a 5:30 p.m. tip.
Instrumental in the Cougars' victory was shooting, especially from long distance as Barton recovered from a 0-14 performance Wednesday at Cowley in connecting on 7-of-11 (63.6%) for the game.
Barton knocked down 6-of-8 in the first half, three of those from Morgan Meyers leading to a 50-point outburst and sixteen point advantage behind 70.8% overall sharp shooting to the locker room.
Cooling off in the final twenty minutes to just 36%, in part to Hutchinson's pressure defense, Barton finished at 53.1% with the Blue Dragons also efficient at 47.6%. The over 50% shooting was just the second time Head Coach Alan Clark's squads have exceeded the mark against Blue Dragon Head Coach John Ontjes and just the 11th time overall in 533 games an opponent has reached the mark during Ontjes' tenure according to HCC Sports Information Department.
Meyers led all scorers on the Hall of Fame night, finishing with 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting, 4-of-5 behind the arc helping Barton to a season high three-point percentage, and sank two huge free throws in the final thirteen seconds preserving the victory.
Barton's starters each put in over thirty-minutes of court time, each reaching double-figures with the exception of Brennan Kirchhoff who scored all eight in first half action including 2-of-2 behind the arc helping Barton build its first fifteen point lead.
Mikaela Hall trailed Meyers for team high honors with 17 points, Acorionna Lard was perfect from the stripe in eight attempts in adding 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists in a complete 40 minutes of court time. Jenny Nkem Womsi also kept herself on the floor for all but one minute of action, dishing out 3 assists and finishing with 12 points and 12 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the year.
Mya Williams led Hutchinson in first half scoring with ten points, being held to just three in second half action finishing with 13 points. Monae Duffy took home team high honors coming off the bench for ten of her 16 total points with Morgan Downing having an equal final twenty minutes of scoring to finish with 13 total. Journey Armstead, Bree Horyna, and Kali Howard each added 9 points with Armstead tying Lard for game high distribution honors with 6 assists.
Similar to its November meeting in Hutchinson, Barton got off to a good start with Hutchinson owning the second half as the Blue Dragons recovered from a ten point deficit on their home court to win by five. Saturday, Barton built its sixteen point halftime but held off the second half charge to snap its three-game losing streak to the Blue Dragons.
Scoring the first four points, Barton never trailed but six first quarter Blue Dragon three-pointers kept the opening frame at the same margin at 24-20.
Second quarter was pivotal as Barton would shoot nearly 78% in scoring 26 points, breaking open its first fifteen point lead in a 8-0 mid-quarter run highlighted by the pair of Kirchhoff treys. The margin grew to sixteen following a pair of Lard free throws, then again at the halftime buzzer as Lard sank a deep trey sending Barton to the break on the top side of a 50-34 score.
Following a Hutchinson bucket to open third quarter scoring, Meyers' triple keyed a two minute 7-0 run pushing the margin to its largest of 21 with 8:01 remaining.
Still trailing by nineteen at the midpoint, Hutchinson grabbed momentum scoring seven straight while the Cougars went cold for over three minutes.
Barton's lead stood at twelve entering the final frame, growing by two after Meyers' layup forty-seconds into the quarter. The Cougars would shoot just 27% in the final ten minutes and turned the ball over five times while on the flip side, despite missing on its five shots behind the arc, the Blue Dragons shot 56% in the quarter to outscore Barton by eight.
The Blue Dragons tightened up the game going on a 8-2 run following Meyers' opening bucket, then following Lard's layup out of the media timeout, rattled off the next seven closing to within three with 3:37 left.
The Blue Dragons had it within three another pair of times before closing to two with 33 seconds remaining following Duffy's offensive rebound putback.
Meyers' 1-of-2 trip to the line pushed it back to three with the Cougars coming up big defensively as Kirchhoff came up with a steal with eight seconds left leading to Meyers' game sealing charity tosses by again going 1-of-2.