The Barton Community College women's basketball team kept its hopes alive of hosting a first round playoff game in knocking off Coffeyville Community College 65-48 at the Barton Gym. Having lost by twenty-five early January in Coffeyville, the Lady Cougars won each quarter Saturday night to draw within one game of the eighth place Red Ravens with one regular season game remaining. Barton improves to 12-13 in Jayhawk play and 15-14 overall while Coffeyville slips to 13-12 and 15-14. The Lady Cougars conclude the regular season Monday with a trip to Chanute for a 5:30 p.m. tip at Neosho County Community College.
Monday's finale result will answer the big question of who will host who as the two teams are locked in to tangle again in the first round of the Region VI playoffs. The Lady Cougars would need to win at Neosho County while Coffeyville would need to lose at home to Cowley College to force a tie breaking coin flip to host Thursday's action, otherwise Barton will be making the trip to Coffeyville.
Coffeyville had the edge early on behind a 7-0 run to grab a 9-2 lead before the Lady Cougars started to find their groove. Beginning with Mallory Miller's first of four three-pointers of the night, Stapleton dished out another dime to Micaela Jellison in transition leading to an And-1 then was on the receiving end of Taylor Regan's laser through the land to storm back to a one point lead they would never relinquish. Stapleton would conclude the quarter with a drive to the hoop in beating the buzzer for a 16-12 lead.
Barton maintained the cushion as the teams went toe-to-toe in a low scoring second frame. A big pivotal point came in the final eleven seconds with Head Coach Alan Clark bringing in two additional shooters for the last possession. One of those shooters being Madison Dirks as the South Gray High School stepped up to bury a buzzer beating three-pointer from Stapleton's fifth dish of the half giving the Lady Cougars a seven point margin to the locker room at 27-20.
The Lady Cougars would stretch the lead out by five in the third quarter with Miller draining a pair of long balls and Stapleton adding another for a twelve point lead. Another five points would be added to the margin in final quarter as Barton stretched its lead to twenty with 1:55 left in settling for the seventeen point victory.
Stapleton led all scorers on the night with sixteen points but the Meade freshman was just as magical directing the offense dishing out ten assists for her third double-double. Miller's 4-of-9 from long distance scored fifteen as did Jellison, who perhaps played her last game on Fleske Court, adding six rebounds on her night. Regan hauled down fifteen rebounds to go along with eight points in helping Barton to a twelve rebound edge on the glass.
Makayla Tanksley led the Red Ravens with fifteen points while Sky Jasper scored thirteen with Alexis Wooden leading the team in rebounding with nine.