Barton moves into semifinal with 20-point win over Labette
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team moved into the Region VI semifinals with an impressive 72-52 win over Labette Saturday evening at Koch Arena in Wichita. It's was Barton's 2nd straight double figure win in the Region VI tournament, putting the Cougars just 2 wins away from the Region VI title and a trip the NJCAA National Tournament for the 1st time in 8 years. In the process Saturday, Ipek Turkyilmaz became the school's single season record holder in 3-pointers, hitting 3 Saturday to give her 83 on the season, besting the mark of 81 held by Corey Norman since 1994. The Cougars will get another Jayhawk East team in the semifinals, taking on Independence, who tied for the East title and earned the No. 2 seed for the Region VI tournament. The two will tangle today at 3 pm.

Highlights
Barton jumped to an early lead on the Cardinals as the Cougar defense limited Labette to just 3 points the opening 7 minutes of play in building a 13-3 lead. The Cougars continued to build that lead, reaching 31-11 with 3 minutes left in the half before settling for a 33-17 lead at intermission.

In those opening 20 minutes of action, Barton pushed the ball up the floor relentlessly, outscoring Labette 18-2 in fast break points. The 2nd half was no different as the Cougars ended the contest with a 30-2 advantage in fast break points. The recipient of many of those baskets was freshman point guard Courtney Sturdivant who ended the night with 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. She also added 7 assists to pace the Cougars.

Labette would get as close as 11 points early in the 2nd half but Barton was never challenged and pulled back out to a lead as high 24 points before finishing with the 20-point win. The Cougars hit 50 percent from the field the contest, netting 16-of-27 shots in the 2nd half for 59 percent.

In addition to Sturdivant's 20 points, Turkyilmaz added 16 and Jessica Halsig 12 for the Cougars. Inga Muciniece, the career and single-season rebounding leader at Barton, grabbed 14 boards and blocked a career-high tying 7 shots in the win. Probably All-American Dana  Olsen led Labette with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

The Cougars will face Independence in the semifinals Monday at 3 pm. The Pirates were easy winners over Hutch in the quarterfinals and have won 14 of their last 15 games.

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

Next 
Mon March 10 – v Independence, 3 pm (Region VI semifinals at Koch Arena in Wichita)

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