The Barton Community College women's basketball team fell by five to the Grizzlies of Butler Community College for the second time this season as the Lady Cougars came up short 53-48 Wednesday night at the Barton Gym. Leading the conference in offensive rebounds, the Lady Cougars were held to a season low four offensive boards but trailed by one possession before its twenty-sixth turnover of the game sealed the fate with nine seconds to play. The loss drops Barton to 8-8 in conference play and 11-9 on the season while Butler's second straight win improves the Grizzlies to 11-5 in Jayhawk play and 14-5 overall. The Lady Cougars' next contest will come Saturday evening in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off hosting No. 7 ranked Seward County Community College.
Battling back from an early double-digit deficit, Barton turned the tide to a six point lead with an 11-0 run keyed by Regan Unruh's first three pointer in five games. Lauren Welsch tallied the next three points before Katrina Roenfeldt knocked down her second trey of the half with Jalisa Jones capping the run with her ninth point of the first sixteen minutes. The Grizzlies then awoke with a 9-0 run of their own to grab a 28-25 edge to the locker room.
Barton would tie things up early in second half play grabbing its last lead at 43-41 with six minutes remaining before a 9-0 Butler answer in the ensuing two minutes put the Grizzlies out in front for good. A Jones layup with 1:16 to play cut the deficit to one before a Butler jumper ten seconds later pushed the lead back to three. Unruh's running jumper fell off the rim with forty-eight seconds play and with the Lady Cougars forcing Butler to make one last shot to increase the lead, Welsch secured the Grizzly miss setting up an opportunity to potentially tie on a three. Barton instead committed their twenty-sixth turnover sending Butler to the line icing the game with two more free throws for the final margin.
Jones led the Lady Cougars with twelve points with Welsch coming off the bench to add ten. Roenfeldt finished with nine points while leading the team with six rebounds.
The Grizzlies also had just two players reaching the double-digit scoring column led by Dakota Vann's thirteen points with Kyeria Hannah close behind with twelve. Raven Prince recorded nine in the book in both points and rebounds while distributing three assists to tie the Lady Cougars' Jones for game high honors.