Barton returns to winning ways with 78-45 win over Garden
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team returned to its winning ways of the 1st 16 games of the season with a 78-45 win over Garden City Thursday night at the Barton Gym. The Cougars used a 10-0 at the end of the 1st half to propel them to the easy win in Jayhawk West action. Barton is now 17-2 after ending a brief 2-game losing streak and 3-2 in the West. The Broncbusters fall to 6-12 overall and 2-3 in the West. The Cougars will be back on the road the next two tilts, starting with a 6 pm tip Saturday against Butler at the Power Plant in El Dorado.
Highlights
Garden City hung around the Cougars most of the 1st half, never leading in the contest but staying within single digits of the No. 21 ranked Cougars. Barton led by 10 briefly at 24-14 and again at 27-17 with 6:40 left but an 8-0 Garden run made it 27-25 with 4 minutes to play in the half. The Broncbusters narrowed it all the way a 1 at 30-29 with just more than 3 minutes left before Jessica Halsig started a 10-0 to end the opening half with at the 2:59 mark. Halsig added another 3 to end the run with 52 seconds left for a 40-29 halftime lead.
That spurred the Cougars to a big 2nd half that saw the Barton defense step up as well, holding Garden City to just 4-of-30 shooting from the field – 3 of the those 3-pointers. The Broncbusters were just 1-of-15 inside the 3-point line in the final 20 minutes. Barton dominated the 2nd half by a 38-16 margin.
Four Cougars found double figures, led by Courtney Sturdivant with 17 and Halsig with 15. Kristine Silaraja added 13 and Inga Muciniece scored 10. Muciniece grabbed 15 boards as well for her 12th double-double this season and the 25th in her career at Barton. Barton out-rebounded the Broncbusters 59-38 in the win.
The Cougars are back on the road for 2 games before playing 6 of their final 9 conference games at home. Barton will travel to El Dorado Saturday to take on the Butler, fresh off a home loss to Seward, 83-71. Butler is 0-5 in the West and 5-13 overall this season.
Stats
Stats can be found at www.bartonccc.edu/sports
Next
Sat Jan 19 – at Butler, 6 pm (Jayhawk West contest at the Power Plant in El Dorado)