Cougars head to post season on winning streak

            The Barton County women's basketball team will go to the Region VI tournament riding a 2-game winning streak after earning a 72-63 win over Pratt Saturday night at the Barton County Gym. The win improves the Cougars to 10-20 overall and 5-11 in the Jayhawk West. Pratt finishes 18-12, 6-10. 

Highlights

            Barton County built a big lead in the first half, going to the locker room on top 38-26. The Cougars held Pratt to just 30 percent shooting from the floor in the half. But the second half, as it has been quite often for the Cougars, wasn't as good -- at least for a while. Pratt came storming back to pull within one, then momentarily take the lead on the Cougars. But this time Barton held off a second half collapse.

            The Cougars pulled back in front then extended their lead to the final 9-point margin. Briana Book, playing in her last home game as a Cougar, scored 22 points to lead Barton. Book hit 9-of-13 shots from the floor in the win. Sophomore's Sarah Kendrick and Jenny Brown added 11 and 10. Melissa Cox, also playing her last home game, added 9 points and a team-high 8 rebounds and 4 assists. Freshman Michelle Deighton matched Cox's 8 boards and 4 assists. As a team Barton County had 21 assists on their 26 baskets.

Next Up

            Barton County will take the No. 7 seed in the West into the playoffs at Fort Scott. Fort Scott finished as the No. 2 seed in the East with a 15-3 East mark and a 22-8 overall record. The Greyhounds have lost three of their last four contests. Tip will be Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Stats

            Game boxes and cumulative stats can be found at the following website.

Barton County Women's Basketball at http://www.barton.cc.ks.us/sports/WB_01-02/wbasketball_01-02.htm