The Barton Community College women's basketball team gave 5th ranked Hutchinson Community College a tough battle Wednesday night at the Sports Arena but turnovers and a barrage of Blue Dragon long distance shots was too much to overcome in a 74-64 defeat.
The Cougars connected on an opponent season high 53.7% against Hutchinson with the Blue Dragons countering with 13 triples and forced 22 turnovers resulting in a plus-15 advantage in exchanges.
Taking its second straight loss to a ranked opponent, Barton falls to 7-4 in league and 12-5 overall while Hutchinson stays unblemished at 11-0 and 17-0.
Next up is a Saturday home 2:00 p.m. tip-off versus former Cougar Head Coach Darin Spence's Trojans of Colby Community College.
Quezia Bertoni led Barton with 17 points as the league leader dished out four assists. Vivian Onugha led the inside game with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and two blocks with Vera Ojenuwa, who was saddled with foul problems, fouling out with 5:21 remaining in a then two-point deficit contributed 12 points and 7 rebounds in just over sixteen minutes of court time.
Second behind Bertoni in the league assist leaders, Grace John distributed a game high 7 assists with 7 points. Darby Smith came off the bench draining a career high 2-of-2 from long distance in finishing with six points as did Tatum Boettjer on 2-of-6 long distance shooting.
Five Blue Dragons reached double-digit scoring led by Kiki Smith's 17 points and one of three knocking down a trio of three-pointers as Hutchinson connected on 13-of-38 behind the arc for six percentage points ahead of the squad's average.
Boettjer's triple to open the evening followed by Onugha's And-1 got the Cougars out to a six point early lead. Having missed their first three-pointer, Hutchinson drained their next with Barton firing back with five straight keyed by Smith's first trey helping the Cougars to their largest lead of eight with 5:41 remaining.
Bertoni's lone triple gave Barton its last lead of seven as the remaining 3:49 went the way of the home team in closing out the opening quarter with a trio of three-pointers regaining the advantage at 18-16.
A pair of Onugha buckets drew Barton to within one midway through the second period but turnovers killed opportunities throughout the evening as Hutchinson pushed the gap back out to seven.
Despite the twelve first half turnovers and eight Blue Dragon three-pointers, Barton kept itself within striking distance scoring the final four points of the half and limiting Hutchinson to just four points in the paint and 37.5% shooting to trail by four at the break.
Trailing by eight just sixty-six seconds out of the locker room, the Cougars took the next eight points capped by Smith's second triple of the game tying it up at 38 with 5:37 left only to have Hutchinson drain their 10th three-pointer to halt the stretch keeping the Blue Dragons in front.
Having limited their turnovers to just a pair in the third frame, Barton didn't do itself any favors to begin the final period committing miscues on their opening three possessions with Hutchinson taking advantage increasing the gap.
Later down seven following Hutchinson's 12th trey, Barton fought back again in drawing within two after Boettjer's final three-pointer with 4:59 remaining.
Getting a defensive stop the Cougars' chance to tie or take the lead was again taken away on a turnover with Hutchinson again capitalizing by canning their 13th long range splash.
Two additional turnovers leading to transition layups all but sealed the Blue Dragon victory for a nine point advantage with 2:13 remaining as the final tallies put on the board via another turnover and transition hoop with twenty-six seconds left.
SERIES NOTES:
- Teams have split last eight meetings
- Hutchinson has won the last three meetings at the Sports Arena
- Hutchinson leads the series 24-23 in Hutchinson
- Barton leads the overall series 57-45