The 17th ranked Barton Community College women's basketball team never trailed in Wednesday evening's "Pink Out Night" to win the national ranked battle at the Barton Gym 63-47 over 20th ranked Butler Community College.
Barton held the Grizzlies to just fourteen first half points in building a twenty-seven point lead, riding their twenty-five point halftime break advantage through the final twenty minutes in completing the season series sweep.
Moving past Butler for a half game lead for second place of the conference standings, the Cougars' sixth straight victory improves to 16-4 and 22-24 while the Grizzlies slip to 16-5 and 21-5 on the year.
With just four games remaining on the regular season slate, Barton looks to secure home court post-season advantage if it can take care of business on Saturday in hosting fifth place Seward County Community College in a 2:00 p.m. matinee tip-off.
Jenny Nkem Womsi led the Cougars in scoring before fouling out for the final 6:13, scoring 17 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in having her seven game double-double streak and her 22nd straight game of double figure rebounds snapped but moving up the single season and career rebound chart.
Acorionna Lard added 13 points and dished out 7 assists as the only other double-digit scorer with Brennan Kirchhoff knocking down a pair of treys to finish with 9 points in a key second quarter stretch.
Mikaela Hall and Racheal Emmanuel helped pick up Womsi's floor absence in scoring a combined 13 points and 9 rebounds helping Barton to a plus-11 advantage on the boards.
Aside from the fourth quarter, Barton shot well all evening in finishing at 56.8% from the field while the Grizzlies struggled to connect in the first three frames in shooting just 26.2% overall.
Tied at 2, Barton surged ahead on eight straight and following a Butler three-pointer, began putting the Grizzlies in the taillights rattling off a 12-0 run in the final three minutes of the quarter to lead 19-5.
Kirchhoff's three-ball to open the second frame extended the streak until Jalia Harding's first of four treys in the game halted the run over four minutes of clock time. Kirchhoff countered with her second trey then later converted an And-1 helping to spark another Cougar twelve straight points building their first twenty-seven point advantage with 2:59 left before halftime.
Butler outscored the Cougars by nine in the final twenty minutes, drawing as close as seventeen late in the third quarter before consecutive buckets by Alissa Heskamp and Womsi quickly pushed the margin back out. Barton put it in cruise control for the final eight minutes for their third straight series victory and avenged Butler's win on the Cougars' home floor last year.
Harding led the Grizzlies with 16 points in her 4-of-6 long distance shooting off the bench while Freddie Wallace battled foul trouble in finishing with 11 points.
Game Notes:
- Womsi's 9 rebounds snapped 22 straight games of double figure rebounds; just the third time in 26 games finishing below 10 or more rebounds; also snapping her seven straight double-double performances
- Womsi's 17 points was the eighth straight game of scoring in double-figures and 22nd time this season
- At halftime of the men's game following, Barton Athletics presented a check of $2750 to Camp Hope, traditional summer camp experience for ages 4-17 that have, or have had cancer. In a an effort to raise funds for the youth camp held annually at the College's Camp Aldrich facility, the Athletic Department continued its commitment to the cause by selling commemorative pink t-shirts with all proceeds going directly to the Camp Hope initiative.
Record Book Watch and Impacts:
Brennan Kirchhoff: 5th in made career three-pointers (104 *25 from Kristine Silaraja' 2007-09 total)
Morgan Meyers: 6th in made career three-pointers (103 *25 from Kristine Silaraja' 2007-09 total)
Jenny Nkem Womsi:
- 5th in single season rebounds (339 *Passed Sheila Hubert's 337 during 1983-84 season; 17 from Beth Lebsack's 356 during 1981-82 season)
- 3rd in single season defensive rebounds (246 *Passed Beth Lebsack's 239 during 1981-82 season and Taylor Regan's 240 during 2017-18 season; 19 from Taylor Regan's 265 during 2018-19 season)
- 3rd in career rebounds (633 *Passed Wendy Okeson's 626 total during 1998-00 seasons and Shelia Hubert's 632 total during 1982-84 seasons; 64 from Taylor Regan's 697 total from 2017-19 seasons)