The 17th ranked Barton Community College women's basketball team grinded out a 62-51 road victory Wednesday evening over Northwest Kansas Technical College inside the Max Jones Fieldhouse.
Never trailing in leading wire-to-wire, the Cougars broke a third quarter 32-tie with an 11-0 run in the opening minutes of the frame, riding to an eventual 15 point late fourth quarter lead in cruising to its' seventh straight win in Goodland.
Winners of eight straight, the Cougars remain in sole possession of second place in the conference standings at 18-4 while notching their first 24-plus win season since 2009 improving to 24-4 on the year. The Mavericks drop to 6-15 in the Jayhawk standings and 10-16 overall.
Barton will return for their final regular season home game Saturday in "Sophomore Day", welcoming Colby Community College for a 2:00 p.m. tip before concluding the regular season next Wednesday at the KJCCC Regular Season Champion Dodge City Community College Conquistadors.
Acorionna Lard scored 12 of her team high 14 points in the second half leading a trio of Cougars in double-figures and seven players in the scoring column. Morgan Meyers added 13 points connecting on three of her nine attempts from long distance while pulling down five rebounds. Alissa Heskamp dropped 10 of her 12 in the opening half on 5-of-8 shooting in 13 minutes of court time. Racheal Emmanuel pulled down a game and career high 13 rebounds helping Barton to a plus-17 edge in the rebound department.
Tyjhanae Penny led Northwest Tech with a career high 20 points off the bench helping the Mavericks to a 20-14 edge in bench production. Sokhna Toure concluded the double-figure scoring for Tech adding 12 points and distributing a team high four assists while Sarengbe Sanogo pulled in a team high nine rebounds.
The Cougars 36.8 percent for the game (21-of-57) was the teams' lowest shooting performance since January 4th against Seward County when the Cougars finished at 35.0 percent (21-of-57). The Mavericks meanwhile shot it at a lesser mark of 26.7 percent (20-of-75) including a bitter (9-of-38) from outside at 23.7 percent.
Barton jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the opening five minutes while holding the Mavericks to just two field goals at the midway point of the stanza, but seven Cougar turnovers in the frame kept Northwest Tech within reach trimming the margin to 17-14 at the first horn.
Jenny Nkem Womsi started the second quarter with a bucket, which extended the Barton lead to five, but a 6-1 Mavericks answer over the next two minutes drew it back even 20-20 with 6:37 to play in the half. An 8-0 response over the next 1:43 started by a Mikaela Hall bucket preceded by an Emmanuel free throw, Meyers long distance splash and Heskamp jumper furnished the Cougars out to their largest lead of the half at 28-20. Three Barton turnovers over the final four minutes kept the Mavericks around the chicken coup cutting the margin to 32-29 at the break.
Opening the second half committing the team's 12th turnover just six seconds out of the locker room, one of six Maverick second half three pointers brought it back square for the final time at 32-32. Barton responded answering the call just 20-seconds later as a Womsi jumper sparked an 11-0 run over the next 3:21 with Lard adding four of her 12 second half points, Brennan Kirchhoff splashing her lone triple of the night and a Womsi 1-of-2 trip at the line facilitating Barton with its' first double-digit lead coming at 43-32. Northwest Tech would slice back into the lead pulling within 44-38 at the end of the third quarter holding the Cougars without a field goal over the final 6:38 with Heskamp providing the lone Cougar point over the final 6:01 converting a 1-of-2 attempt at the line with 28-ticks left.
Barton took command of the game in the fourth as a Meyers triple and personal 4-0 Lard run mixed between a Maverick field goal pushed the Cougar lead back to double-digits, 51-40 with 6:40 to play. The Cougars put the game on ice just after the midway point building up their largest lead of 15 at 60-45 behind a 9-2 run over the next 4:06. Northwest Tech would close the gap in the final 38-seconds hitting back-to-back treys settling the score at 62-51.
Game Notes:
- Womsi had her string of nine straight games of reaching double-figures snapped scoring a season low seven points.
- Womsi's 11 rebounds marked the 25th time this season the sophomore has exceeded 10 or more rebounds in a game.
Record Book Watch and Impacts:
Morgan Meyers: 5th in made career three-pointers (110 *17 from Kristine Silaraja' 2007-09 total)
Brennan Kirchhoff: 6th in made career three-pointers (105 *22 from Kristine Silaraja' 2007-09 total)
Jenny Nkem Womsi:
- 4th in single season rebounds (365 *Passed Beth Lebsack's 356 during 1981-82 season, 2 from Wendy Okeson's 367 during 1999-00 season)
- 3rd in single season defensive rebounds (263 *2 from Taylor Regan's 265 during 2018-19 season)
- 3rd in career rebounds (659 *38 from Taylor Regan's 697 total from 2017-19 seasons)
- 7th in career FT attempts (279 *15 from Taylor Regan's 294 total from the 2017-19 seasons)
- 7th in career made FT (195 *14 from Nicole Eitzmann's 209 total from 1993-95 seasons)