Cougars roll to opening round win over Neosho; Allen County next
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team rolled to an easy win in the opening round of Region VI play, defeating Neosho County, 92-57, at the Barton County Gym Wednesday. The Cougars jumped to an early lead on the Panthers and never looked back. Barton led by 28 at half then coasted home for the win. It was the 2nd straight year Barton defeated Neosho in the opening round of Region VI action. Barton will move on to play Allen County, a 70-59 winner over Garden City Wednesday night. Barton (26-5) will take on Allen (19-12) at 3 pm in quarterfinal action at Koch Arena on the campus of Wichita State.

Highlights
Barton wasted little time in taking control of the contest. The game was never tied after the opening basket by Barton and the Cougars never trailed. Barton bolted to a 7-0 lead and increased it to 14-4. If the game was in doubt, a 14-0 run by Barton to take a 32-12 lead with 9:13 to play ended those doubts. The Cougars continued to poor it on in the opening half, going to the locker room with a 46-18 lead.

In the opening half, the Cougars hit 53 percent from the floor led by a 6-of-8 effort from Stephanie N'Garsanet. The Cougars forced the Panthers into 14 turnovers and scored 17 points off those turnovers.

The Cougars weren't as impressive in the 2nd half, playing with a lead in the 20's for most of the half. Barton topped the 30-point mark with 11 minutes to play on a ChrisDell Harris basket for a 52-31 lead. The Cougars pushed it to 38 on another Harris jumper to give the Cougars an 88-50 lead in the final minutes. The 92 points was the 2nd highest of the season for the Cougars. The Cougars also turned in one of their better shooting games of the season, hitting 38-of-79 shots for 48 percent.

N'Garsanet and Victoria Carlile led 5 Cougars in double figures with 16 each. N'Garsanet tied her career high of 16 on 8-of-12 shooting in just 15 minutes of play. Carlile continued her hot play of late, scoring in double figures for the 3rd time in the past 4 games. Harris also matched her career high with 11 off the Barton bench in 12 minutes. KG Hellen and Brianna Buchanan each finished with 10 points.

The Cougars advance to take on Allen County, an easy winner over Garden City in 1st round action. The Cougars and Red Devils will play at 3 pm, Saturday, at Koch Arena in Wichita. The two clubs met earlier this season with Barton winning 77-42 at the Jayhawk Shoot Out in Coffeyville. But Allen County, once 10-8, has won 9 of 13, including wins in 5 of its last 6 games. The winner of the Barton-Allen quarterfinal will play Monday at 1 pm in semifinal action.

Stats
Complete stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports

Next
Sat., March 11 – v Allen County, 3 pm (Region VI quarterfinals at Koch Arena in Wichita)