Barton back in Region VI finals with 78-61 win over Labette; Colby next
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team earned a repeat trip to the Region VI Championship game Monday afternoon with a 78-61 win over Labette at Koch Arena in Wichita. The No. 19 Cougars had to climb out of a 13-0 hole against the No. 14 Cardinals on their way to the win and a repeat trip the Region VI finals. Barton will take on a familiar team as the Cougars tangle with Jayhawk West foe Colby Tuesday for the right to move on to Salina and the NJCAA National Tournament. Barton turned a close contest into the 17-point win by pulling away late from the champions of the Jayhawk East. Barton will bring a 28-5 record into the title game while Colby, ranked No. 9, will bring a 30-3 mark into the contest. Tip for the contest will be at 6 pm at Koch Arena.

Highlights
The game got off to a bad start for Barton as Labette bolted to a 13-0 lead in the 1st 3 1/2 minutes of play. But the sophomore-laden Cougars did not panic. Brianna Buchanan knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers and the Cougars were on their way to 17-2 run to take a 17-15 in the contest. That would set in motion and see-saw contest for the rest of the opening half as the team's traded the lead 4 times. Labette took a lead into the locker room 30-26 as Barton committed 14 1st half turnovers and were outscored 14-6 in points off turnovers.

The opening half also saw Labette's Wintonia Hart score 16 points, hitting 7-of-17 shots from the floor. But the 2nd half would be a different story. Maya Onikute spent of the half guarding Hart, limiting her to just 2-of-10 from the floor for 8 points. Without Hart providing the offense spark for the Cardinals, the Cougars began to take control of the contest.

The Cougars locked down Labette in the early stages of the 2nd half, limited Labette to just 4 points the 1st 7 minutes as Barton built a 40-34 on Labette. Barton would not trail again, but Labette would battle back. A Hart 3-pointer with 7:52 left in the contest evened the game at 52-all. Labette would make just 1 more field the rest of the contest – at the 5:39 mark – and would slowly pull away from the Cardinals.

Buchanan's back-to-back 3-pointers to get the Cougars started were just a preview of what would be a career game for the sophomore from Junction City. Buchanan would hit 3 more treys, for a total of 5 in the contest and finish with a career-high 25 points. She also led the Cougars with 8 rebounds – 1 short of a career high.

Buchanan was just 1 of 4 Cougars to reach double digits in the win. Stephanie N'Garsanet added 14 points and 7 rebounds while Sunshine Uli scored 13 and Andrea Barber added 11 points. In addition to her defensive effort, Onikute added 6 assists to pace Barton. Hart ended with 24 points but took 27 shots to get there. She hit just 9 of them, including just 3-of-14 on treys.

Barton now looks to Colby for the right to play in the NJCAA Tournament at the Bicentennial Center in Salina. The two teams split regular season games this year with Barton winning 64-61 in Colby and Colby winning 48-46 in Great Bend. The two teams were picked to finish 1-2 in the West to start the season as well as in the NJCAA Top 25 and have lived up to that billing.

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

Next
Tues., March 14 – v Colby, 6 pm (Region VI Finals at Koch Arena in Wichita)