The regular season concluded Wednesday night in Dodge City as the 16th ranked Barton Community College women's basketball team battled 10th ranked Dodge City Community College in a blow-for-blow between the conference's top two teams with the Conquistadors executing down the stretch for a 65-61 win.
Canning seven three-pointers in the first half action, Barton increased an eleven point halftime margin to fourteen late in the third quarter before the wheels came off. The Conquistadors scored the final twelve points of the quarter cutting the deficit to one, taking the lead at the 7:10 mark for the first time since early second quarter action.
A no-call resulting in a Conquistador trey erased Barton's four point edge to one, Dodge City outscoring Barton 8-0 down the stretch as the Cougars' opportunities slipped by on a missed low block jumper and coming up empty on a pair of potential tying charity tosses with 3.5 seconds remaining.
Racking up 23 turnovers on the night and making just 9-of-17 free throws, Barton's plus-7 edge on the glass was not enough in dropping the season series to the conference champions.
The loss concludes the regular season with Barton finishing at 19-5 for second place, having their 9-game win streak snapped in dropping to 25-5, while Dodge City's 21st straight victory concludes the regular slate atop the standings at 23-1 and 28-2 overall.
The second seeded Cougars will have a six day break before their next action in the Region VI Quarterfinals taking place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 7. Barton will host Saturday's victor of the 7-10 matchup as Cloud County will host Northwest Kansas Technical College with the quarterfinal winner advancing to Friday's 5:00 p.m. semifinal at Wichita's Friends University.
Morgan Meyers led the Cougars with 18 points with Brennan Kirchhoff scoring 11 of her 13 points in first half action after sitting most of the second half in foul trouble. Mikaela Hall added 11 points and 7 rebounds while Jenny Nkem Womsi added 8 points with a team high 14 rebounds, including 12 defensive to take over the program's single season top spot.
Meyers and Kirchhoff's consecutive treys gave Barton a 17-11 edge after the first quarter with Kirchhoff answering Dodge City's 7-0 start to the second quarter with her second triple putting Barton out front for the next seventeen minutes.
A pair of 5-0 runs within an 10-1 mid-second quarter stretch pushed the lead to nine, growing to eleven on Kirchhoff's third arc busters as the Cougars knocked down 7-of-11 three-pointers for a 35-26 halftime lead.
Kirchhoff and Meyers consecutive buckets to open the third quarter gave Barton a thirteen point lead with consecutive Hall jumpers giving Barton its first fourteen point lead with six minutes left. With Kirchhoff off the bench at the 7:06 mark, Acorionna Lard stepped up in helping the Cougars maintain the big lead before Alissa Heskamp rang the deep bell to counter a Conquistador triple for Barton's final fourteen point margin.
Hall's 1-of-2 trip to the line with 2:13 remaining perhaps was a sign of what was brewing as Dodge City closed out the frame on a 12-0 run in knocking down three straight three-pointers before converting an And-1 closing to within 50-49 headed to the final quarter.
Following a Womsi bucket opening the fourth quarter, Dodge City gained its first lead since early in the second quarter on a 4-0 run.
Back-n-forth the scoreboard changed leads until Barton mustered a 7-0 run to go up by four under two minutes but a game-changing call flipped the late momentum.
Setting up in the lane on a Conquistador drive, Womsi was plowed over on the no-call, the kick-out resulting in Dodge City triple slicing the margin to 61-60 with 1:29.
A low block jumper did everything but slide through the cylinder on Barton's end with the Conquistadors flipping the lead for the final time with 31 seconds to play on a drive through the lane.
Meyers' drive was blocked on the next possession resulting in Kirchhoff fouling out but Dodge City left the door open in making just 1-of-2 charity tosses with seventeen ticks left.
The teams traded turnovers in the ensuing possessions, Barton having the last opportunity with the Conquistadors helping to kill time off the clock with committing just their third team foul.
Barton's inbound pass went to Lard in getting hammered to the floor, going to the line for a pair of free throws for the potential tie. After the first attempt rimmed out, Lard intentionally missed the second with Dodge City securing the board, putting the final two points on the board with two seconds left for the four point victory in sweeping the season series.
Game Notes:
- Dodge City's home win was their 19th straight
- Womsi's 14 rebounds marked the 27th time this season the sophomore has exceeded 10 or more rebounds in a game.
Record Book Watch and Impacts:
Morgan Meyers: 5th in made career three-pointers (117 *10 from Kristine Silaraja' 2007-09 total)
Brennan Kirchhoff: 6th in made career three-pointers (108 *19 from Kristine Silaraja' 2007-09 total)
Jenny Nkem Womsi:
- 2nd in single season rebounds (397 *Passed Taylor Regan's 384 in 2018-19 season, 56 from Inga Muciniece's 453 total from 2007-08 season)
- 1st in season defensive rebounds (287 *Passed Inga Muciniece's 281 total from 2007-08 season)
- 3rd in career rebounds (691 *6 from Taylor Regan's 697 total from 2017-19 seasons, 63 from Inga Muciniece's 754 total from 2007-08 season)
- 7th in career FT attempts (290 *4 from Taylor Regan's 294 total from the 2017-19 seasons)
- 7th in career made FT (202 *7 from Nicole Eitzmann's 209 total from 1993-95 seasons)