Alan Clark is in his seventh season leading the women’s basketball program.

The 2021-22 season again provided an exciting but bittersweet end to the year on the hard court as Clark’s Cougars fell short in its third straight trip to the Region VI Championship. Winners of five straight heading into the title game, the loss ended the campaign at 20-13.

A pre-season coaches pick for 7th place, Barton surpassed expectations finishing 4th in the conference standings at 15-9 . Within the Cougars’ hot ending to the season, Barton went 8-1 in their final nine including five road victories including a win at NW Kansas Technical moving Coach Clark into the second spot on the program’s all-time coaching wins.

Three Cougars earned post-season accolades led by Jenny Nkem Womsi voted as the Co-Newcomer of the Year in landing on the 2nd team of the All-KJCCC and All-Region VI selections. Brennan Kirchhoff garnered 3rd team honors with Acorionna Lard selected along with Womsi, on the Region VI All-Tournament team.

Off the court, Clark's squad were national champions in the classroom, compiling a team 3.79 GPA to lead all members of NJCAA women's basketball. Seven Cougars achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA while three landed on the 2nd team (3.80-3.99) and two on the 3rd team (3.60-3.79).

The 2020-21 season also ended in the Region VI title game for the second straight year, knocking off defending champion No. 9 Butler Community College for a 2019 revenge victory before falling in the championship to 4th seeded Independence Community College 67-61. Tying for the Jayhawk West title at 17-5, the Cougars’ finished the year with the most victories in Region VI in compiling a 21-5 record.

Accomplishments from the season and voted upon by fellow league coaches, Coach Clark was named All-Jayhawk Conference Coach of the Year, as well as, had a trio of Cougars picking up postseason honors. Sophomore Queen Ulabo led the charge gathering 2nd Team All-America honors and 1st Team All-Region VI accolades. Vanessa Oduah and Tiffany Dortland rounded out the postseason awards with 1st-Team All-Conference and 2nd Team All-Region VI selections.

In 2019-2020 Clark’s Cougars had a memorable run through the Region VI playoffs. Rattling off back-to-back post-season victories securing its second straight trip to the region semifinals, Barton pulled off the unthinkable to end a 23-game losing streak to No. 9 ranked Hutchinson, upsetting the Blue Dragons in securing their first championship game bid since 2008. Falling to top-seeded Butler Community College, the Lady Cougars concluded the season at 18-16, posting a third best mark in the Jayhawk West at 11-10.

For the second consecutive season, four Cougars earned post-season accolades with the trio of Vanessa Oduah, Richelle Turney, and Queen Ulabo landing on the All-Region VI Tournament team. Turney, who was also a 1st Team All-Conference and 2nd Team All-Region VI selection, was joined on the conference selection teams by honorable mention recipient D’Shonda Hunt.

Clark’s Cougars also continued their excellence in the classroom boasting a 3.25 cumulative GPA with seven individuals garnering national academic recognition including four achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA.

The 2018-19 campaign made another run in the Region VI Tournament, concluding the season at 23-10 following a 14-7 third place Jayhawk West finish.

Four members earned postseason recognition led by Jaylin Stapleton’s consecutive 1st team selection to the West team and another spot on the Region VI team. Taylor Regan repeated 2nd team All-West honors, to go along with also being named to the Region’s top fifteen players while sharp shooting Mallory Miller earned conference honorable mention distinction. Falling to the No. 2 ranked Seward County squad by just five points to end the season, Stapleton, Regan, and Irene Chukwudi closed out their careers being named to the Region VI All-Tournament team.

Graduating a hard working and gritty bunch of players, the 2018-19 squad left their mark on the record book in five of the program’s best single season performances including raising the best free throw percentage bar to an incredible 75.1% in draining 578 of their 770 charity tosses.

In 2017-18 the Lady Cougars finished 16-15 and tied for 8th place in the rugged Jayhawk Conference with a 13-13 record. Two freshman earned post-season recognition with Stapleton earning 1st team All-Conference and All-Region VI honors while Regan landed on the 2nd team conference squad.

For the second straight year the Lady Cougars assaulted the program’s historical record book in both team and individual categories. The squad hit the books in four single game and season rankings while resetting the best single game 3-pt Field Goal percentage and the season’s top mark from the free throw stripe (73.4%). Individually, ten single game performances fell on the chart led by Miller’s 3-point shooting and Regan dialed in from the free throw line while Miller etched her name atop the season 3-point shooting as Regan, Stapleton, and sophomore Micaela Jellison finished the season on the top ten chart.

The Lady Cougars were also strong in the classroom, earning the NJCAA national title with a stellar 3.72 GPA as four members achieved a first team Academic All-American status with four additional players landing on each of the second and third team.

Following four years as assistant coach for the program, Clark’s first season at the helm produced a 17-15 season with a 13-13 seventh placing in the conference including numerous individual and team historical accomplishments.

Leading the rewriting of the book, Katrina Roenfeldt capped her stellar Lady Cougar career earning two post-season honors, named to the Division I first team of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) while earning second team honors in the Division I of Region VI. The Dodge City, Kansas, native left her mark in the Barton record book atop the chart in single season three-pointers made (106) and attempted (256), career three-pointers made (171) and attempted (237), and single game defensive rebounds (18) while recording a single season fifth best effort from beyond the arc at 41.4%. Roenfeldt also earned two conference player of the week honors to go along with receiving a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) weekly award.

Also making their mark in the Barton record books were two additional sophomores Regan Unruh and Baylee Robinson. Unruh, a Great Bend native, drained a program third best 77.6% from the charity stripe over her two year career. Robinson, a transfer from Trinidad Junior College, pumped in a career high thirty-six points and hauled down thirteen rebounds in Barton's Region VI victory on March 2nd as the Roswell, New Mexico, native went 17-of-26 from the field surpassing the sixteen made field goals set in the ’99-00 season.

The team also made its mark in the storied history of Lady Cougar basketball in four different categories including taking over the top spot in defensive rebounds (51) in finishing with a program third best total rebounds (74) in its February 11th game against Dodge City. The 2016-17 squad also wasn't afraid of launching the long ball, led by Roenfeldt's record breaking season along with primarily Unruh and Megan Jirak, the Lady Cougars launched a second best 36 at Independence and a sixth most 32 at Butler. Draining 198-of-604 (32.8%) from beyond the arc, the team finished the season with the fourth most made three-pointers in Barton history.

A Barton alumna, Clark joined the coaching staff in 2012 as an assistant for three years under Carter Kruger and a year under Trevor Rolfs before being named to lead the program.

“I look forward to great things coming for our women’s basketball program under the leadership of Alan Clark,” said Rolfs. “A man of tremendous integrity, great work ethic, and a strong desire to win make him an outstanding choice for the position. Ultimately, Coach Clark will bring much needed stability back to our women’s program.”

Under Clark's guidance in the past five years, 11 players have received scholarships to play at the NCAA level including seven at the Division I level and four to Division II schools.