Timely mistakes spoil Cougars' upset bid at 14th ranked Dodge City #GoBarton

The Barton Community College women's basketball team's upset bid of 14th ranked Dodge City Community College slipped away in the closing stages Wednesday night falling 59-57 inside the Student Activity Center.

Trailing by as many as twelve in the second quarter, the Cougars rallied back within one point on two separate occasions in the fourth quarter but two costly turnovers in the final minute eventually spoiled the upset bid as the lone full possession attempt of Tatum Boettjer's go-ahead left wing three-pointer missed its mark.

Dropping the season series, Barton slips to fourth place in the league standings at 15-7 and 20-8 overall while the fourth straight victory of the series moves the second place Conquistadors to 19-4 in league and 25-4 on the season.

The Cougars return home for their final regular season home game Saturday in "Pink-Out Night" welcoming top ranked and unblemished Hutchinson Community College for a 5:30 p.m. tip before concluding the regular season Tuesday with a road trip to Colby Community College. The Cougar women and men sophomores will also be recognized in a brief ceremony following the women's game conclusion.

Vivian Onugha led Barton with a game high 14 points and eight rebounds with Vera Ojenuwa recording her team leading 14th double-double of the season dropping 13 points and corralling six of her 16 rebounds on the offensive end in guiding the Cougars to a whopping plus-21 advantage on the glass.

Rounding out Barton's double-figure scoring was Grace John's 10 points, knocking down two of the Cougars' five long distance ringings while dishing out a game high five assists.

A pair of Dodge City players reached double-digit scoring led by Parris Atkins' 12 points including one of four Conquistadors knocking down a pair of three-pointers as the squad connected on 9-of-27 behind the arc with seven coming in the opening twenty minutes. Kyriana Jones rounded out the double figure scoring for the Conquistadors hitting 3-of-8 from long distance to finish with 11 points.

Barton's lone lead came 54-ticks into the contest at 4-3 following Ojenuwa's first bucket of the night with Dodge City responding on an 8-3 run powered by two of their four first quarter arc busters. Ojenuwa's second basket of the opening 5:26 tied things up for the final time at 11-11 with the home team rattling off the next nine and taking an eventual 22-16 first quarter advantage.

Despite 13 first half turnovers and seven Conquistador made three-pointers to build up its largest lead at 39-27 with 2:20 left in the second quarter, Barton kept itself within striking distance scoring five of the final six points to trail 40-32 at the halftime break.

Trailing by eight just 2:20 out of the locker room, one of Boettjer's three long distance splashes on the night fueled a 7-1 stretch drawing the Cougars within 47-45 with 4:22 to play only to have Dodge City drain their eighth and ninth three-pointers of the night halting the stretch and increasing the lead back out to eight. A pair of Ojenuwa tosses at the charity stripe closed the third quarter scoring drawing Barton back within 53-47 entering the fourth quarter.

John's second splashing from outside to open the final ten minutes keyed a 6-1 run pulling Barton back within 54-53 with 6:30 remaining. Holding Dodge City, the second highest scoring team in the conference without a field goal in the final quarter, the Cougars could not get over the hump as three separate chances in the final minute fell empty by committing two turnovers with a potential go-ahead three-pointer drawing hard iron with under ten seconds remaining spoiling the upset bid.

SERIES NOTES:
- Dodge City swept the season series for the second straight year
- Teams' 116 combined points marks the lowest output over the last four meetings
- Conquistadors have won the last two at Dodge City
- Barton leads the series 29-17 at Dodge City
- Barton leads the overall series 74-21

Record Book Watch
Tatum Boettjer
- 78 made three pointers in a season – *Tied 5th most with Morgan Meyers (2022-23) and Ipek Turkyilmaz (2006-07) – 3 behind Sonja Swopes (1993-94)
- 216 attempted three pointers in a season - *5th most – 11 behind Morgan Meyers (2022-23) and Sonja Swopes (1993-94)