Trailing the No. 16 ranked Lady Saints by two early in the second half, the Barton Community College women's basketball team simply got outworked for the last eighteen minutes to drop a 69-42 decision to Seward County Community College Wednesday night in Liberal, Kansas. The loss drops Barton to 18-10 overall and into a three-way tie at 6-6 for the fourth spot in the standings, further dampening the hopes of hosting a first round home playoff game. With only two remaining games in the regular season, the Lady Cougars will need to at least win one of the remaining two games to have a shot. Seward's victory clinched a first round home playoff spot as the Lady Saints improved to 9-3 in conference play and 24-4 overall. Barton will travel to No. 3 ranked Hutchinson Community College on Saturday before wrapping up the regular season next Wednesday at home against Garden City Community College. Game time for Saturday's matchup with the Lady Dragons is 5:30 p.m. at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
In what was the worst offensive performance this season for the Lady Cougars, Barton was held to a season low 42 points, 22.8% shooting from the field making a mere thirteen field goals, had only thirteen free throw attempts, and gave up a season high sixty rebounds including giving up a second worst twenty-three offensive rebounds.
"Two key factors led to this loss tonight," said Barton head coach Carter Kruger in a post-game interview with Eagle Radio. "Offensive rebounds and finishing shots. We simply gave up way too many offensive rebounds in the second half (13) and missed a lot of layups and shots around the basket."
Cheyenne Hedrington's was the lone Barton player to reach double figures in scoring thirteen points as the sophomore transfer reached the mark for the twenty-second time this season. Ashton Bruner led the team with six rebounds and four assists. One bright spot for Barton was the long range shooting of Brandy Winbush who connected on 3-of-5 beyond the arc as the sophomore as knocked down at least one three-pointer in 25 of Barton's 28 games this season.
Brianna Scott lead a balanced Seward attack with fourteen points and six assists and five steals as four Lady Saints reached double figures. Alana Simon scored twelve while Korina Chapman and Shanise Brooks contributed eleven each. Brooks also led the Lady Saints with five blocks and eleven rebounds in posting her sixth double-double of the season.