The Barton Community College women's basketball team split a pair of games this week in Florida, opening with a Monday 75-61 victory at Palm Beach State College before taking their first loss of the season in an 81-72 defeat at St. Petersburg College on Tuesday.
Barton's record stands at 5-1 into the holiday break with next action taking place Wednesday in hosting Hesston College in a 5:30 p.m. tip at the Barton Gym.
Taylor Regan's twenty-one points and eight rebounds led the Cougars in the victory at Palm Beach as Barton led by six at the break before widening the final margin to fourteen. Jaylin Stapleton added fifteen points to go along with seven rebounds while Fatou Ndao posted the Senegal sophomore's first double-double of the year in a ten point, twelve rebound effort.
Traveling across the state the following day, the Cougars got off to a rough start at St. Petersburg connecting on just 2-of-14 from the field with six turnovers in digging a twelve point first quarter deficit.
Beginning to heat up and limiting turnovers, the Cougars' 7-0 start to the second frame cut into the deficit with Mallory Miller's second of four treys in the game slicing the margin to 22-19 with 6:14 left. A pair of Stapleton free throws would again draw Barton to within three but seven straight widened the gap back out as the Titans would eventually take a seven point lead to the break.
Ryen White's dial up from long distance trimmed the margin by one but the Titans again answered the call by putting together four straight. The Cougars fought back with five straight getting buckets from Kolby Davis and Fatou to outscore the Titans in the quarter to reduce the margin by one.
Following the Titans getting the first hoop of the fourth, Barton controlled the first three minutes with Stapleton taking over the game on a couple of steals and dishing out three assists with a pair of free throws tying it up at 59 with 7:24 to play. A Titans' banked in three-pointer followed by another shot from beyond the arc quickly pushed the lead back out as Barton would never get any closer.
Stapleton's seventeen points led four Cougars in double figures as the sophomore from Meade drained 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. Miller's four treys on seven attempts led to a fourteen point night with White finishing up with ten as did Regan to go along with another eight rebounds. Ndao had a team high ten boards to go along with six points while Irene Chukwudi collected six rebounds and rejected three Titan shots.