Cougars win at Butler; set sights on 2nd place in West
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team put together back-to-back wins for the 1st time in nearly a month as the Cougars earned their 2nd straight road win, defeating Butler County 66-58 at the Power Plant in El Dorado. The Cougars trailed by 6 early in the 2nd half and still trailed by a pair with less than 10 minutes to play but held Butler to just 8 points in the final 10 minutes to secure the win. The win moves the Cougars within a game of 2nd place in the West with a 9-4 mark. Barton is now 22-5 overall. Butler falls to 9-18 and 3-10. Barton has a chance to move into a tie for 2nd Saturday when they travel to No. 11 Cloud County. Cloud is 11-3 in West play.
Highlights
The Cougars played the game without its 2nd leading scorer, Sunshine Uli, and much of the game without its 3rd leading scorer, Maya Onikute. Uli was in street clothes on the sideline suffering from an abdominal strain while Onikute was injured after playing just 10 minutes. Both players may in action Saturday in Concordia.
Barton trailed most of the 1st half, by as many as 5 points on several occasions. The Cougars led briefly midway through the half, but trailed the Grizzlies by 36-32 at intermission. That led grew to 38-32 to start the 2nd half before the Cougars began their rally. Barton whittled away at the lead until ChrisDell Harris knocked down a shot to give Barton a 44-43 lead with 12:15 to play. The two teams then traded the lead a couple of times before 6-0 run keyed by 4 points from KG Hellen gave the Cougars a 54-50 lead with 7 minutes to play. Barton would not trail again. During a 6 minute stretch late in the half, Barton put together a 10-2 run, capped by a Stephanie N'Garsanet hoop for a 58-52 lead with 4 minutes to play. The Cougars pushed the lead to 64-56 with 23 seconds to play to secure the win.
N'Garsanet led the Cougars with 13 points and just missed a double-double by one rebound, leading Barton with 9 boards. Brianna Buchanan added 11 points and Andrea Barber 10. For Buchanan it was her 2nd straight game in double digits and the 5th in her last 6 contests. Barber reached double figures for the 1st time in 6 games. Barber also had 4 steals. Brandi Harris led Barton with 4 assists and added 9 points – her highest total in 9 games. Brittany Lasley led Butler with 19 points but scored 17 of those in the opening 20 minutes of action.
Barton will not set its sights on Cloud County and the final 3 games of the season. The Cloud contest will be the final road game of the year with Dodge City and Seward County coming to the Barton County Gym to complete the regular season. If Barton wins all 3 games – far from an easy task – the Cougars would be the No. 2 seed from the West in the upcoming Region VI tournament.
Stats
Complete stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
Sat., Feb. 25 – at Cloud County, 6 pm (Jayhawk West play at the Bryant Gym in Concordia)