Cougars capture Region VI Championship with 52-40 win over Cloud
The Barton County Community College women's basketball team captured its first Region VI title in 8 years Tuesday night with a 52-40 win over Cloud County in the Championship game of the region tournament at Koch Arena in Wichita. The Cougars shut down the Thunderbirds for the opening 20 minutes then held off a Cloud rally in the 2nd half to win the Region VI Championship and earn the right to keep playing. Next stop for the Cougars will be the NJCAA National Tournament in Salina starting Tuesday. Seeds and game time for the tournament will be announced later today. The Cougars are now 32-2 and just two 2 wins from tying the school record for wins in a season at 34.

Highlights
The Cougar defense was dominating in the opening half, holding Cloud to a ridiculous 4-of-41 shooting from the field – 9.8 percent. The Thunderbirds were 0-of-13 on 3-pointers and had 9 turnovers and no assists. On Cloud's 1st 2 possessions of the game, the T-Birds turned the ball on a shot clock violation. The only downside to the opening half defensively for the Cougars were the 22 offensive rebounds Cloud collected to just 15 defensively for Barton. While Barton was doing all that, however, Cloud managed to convert on 7-of-11 free throws and stay within range of the Cougars, trailing just 29-15 at halftime.

Much like the semifinal win over Independence, Barton went cold for an extended stretch offensively in the 2nd half and allowed Cloud back into the contest. The Cougars led 37-23 with 15 minutes to play following a layup by Inga Muciniece. But over the next 10 minutes Barton would score just 2 more points – a Courtney Sturdivant layup at the 11-minute mark – while Cloud methodically whittled away at the Cougar lead.

When Kara Champlain hit a jumper at the 6:10 mark – her 3rd straight bucket for the T-Birds – Cloud had cut the Barton lead to 39-37 and would get a chance to tie the game on its next 2 possession. That is when Muciniece earned what turned out to be the Most Valuable Player in the tournament. Cloud's Deandra Schirmer drove the lane and put up a shot with 5:39 to play that was blocked by Muciniece, the next trip down Schirmer drove for a another layup and Muciniece again stuffed her shot once again. Ipek Turkyilmaz would get the lead to 3 with a free throw and Sturdivant scored again on penetration to the lane to give Barton a 42-37 lead with 4:27 to play.

That would prove to be enough points as Cloud would score just 3 more points in the final 6 minutes of the game as the Cougars pulled away for the 12-point win, giving the team time to enjoy the final minute of the game secure in their win.

Sturdivant, also an All Tournament selection, led Barton with 18 points followed by Kristine Silaraja with 10. Muciniece scored just 6 in the win but grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked 7 shots to earn her MVP award. Turkyilmaz and Halsig were both named to the All Tournament team as well. No Cloud player scored more than 8 points with Schirmer scoring 8 and grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds.

The Cougars will find out who and when they play at Salina today. Barton will probably be seed anywhere from 5-7 in the tournament.

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

Next 
Tues March 18 – v TBA, TBA (NJCAA National Championship at the Bicentennial Center in Salina)