Offensive woes cost Barton women as 8-game winning streak snapped
When Lynzi Rumford hit a short jumper in the lane with 47 seconds left in the third quarter, it gave the Barton women’s basketball team a 3-point lead.
Little did anyone know at the time it would be the last field goal of the night for the Cougars.
That would cost Barton as Garden City overtook the Cougars in the final period then pulled away in the final minute for a 65-57 Jayhawk West win at the Barton Gym.
The setback snaps Barton’s 8-game winning streak. The last time the Cougars lost a game was exactly one month to the date, Feb. 17. It is no coincidence the 57 points is the lowest total since that 61-54 loss at Butler.
While the loss does hamper the Cougars pursuit of a Jayhawk West title, it hardly puts it to bed. Barton still controls its own destiny in that department.
Hutchinson is now a full game up in the loss column with a 13-3 conference mark while Barton and Seward County are both 11-4.
A 3-day stretch over an extended weekend will go a long ways toward position at the top heading into the final drive.
Seward will travel to Hutchinson Saturday then Barton makes the trip to Liberal on Monday to take on Seward. Barton and Hutch will play the next to last game of the regular season.
The Monday game at Seward will be on the heels of Barton’s trip to Colby for a rare Sunday afternoon game.
Wednesday night at the Barton Gym it looked like the Cougars were on their way to nine straight wins. Barton put 21 points on the board in the opening quarter and led by eight midway through the second quarter.
A Tiffany Dortland 3-pointer gave Barton a 30-22 lead 4:47 before half.
It was at that point the offensive really began to show for the Cougars. Barton didn’t score again until a Brennan Kirchhoff 3-pointer with 24 seconds left in the half. The Cougars went to half up 35-31.
The teams traded the lead a few times in the third period but Barton seemed to be settled in a bit after the Rumford jumper and a free throw by Vanessa Oduah gave the Cougars a 51-47 lead with just eight seconds left in the period.
The Broncbusters would beat the buzzer at the other end to cut the margin 51-49 after three.
A sluggish start to the final period by both teams saw only a pair of Barton free throws for a 53-49 lead nearly four minutes into the final period.
Despite making only four free throws the first five minutes of the fourth, Barton still led 55-51.
The Cougars would not give that lead up until 3:11 remained when Britney Mapang scored for Garden City to give the Busters a 56-55 lead.
But the misses kept coming for Barton and Garden City pulled away in the final, going 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
Barton was 0-for-10 from the floor in the final period, including 0-for-6 on 3-pointers.
Oduah led Barton with 14 points and Dortland added 11. Ulabo grabbed 13 rebounds but her string of five straight double-doubles ended with just six points.
Garden 65, Barton 57
Garden 14 17 18 16 – 65
Barton 21 14 16 6 – 57
Garden (9-7, 8-7) 65
Afoa 3-6 8-8 17, Zagorac 2-2 1-2 5, Stephens 2-6 5-5 9, McGee 2-7 1-1 5, Odom 1-3 0-0 0, Martin 3-6 0-0 7, Neves 5-12 2-3 13, Smith 1-1 0-0 2, Lawhorne 1-5 1-1 3, Mapang 1-4 0-0 2, Balume 0-0 0-0 0, Washington 0-2 0-0 0, Sherrill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 24-54 18-20 65.
Barton (12-4, 11-4) 57
Ulabo 1-7 4-4 6, Oduah 5-13 3-6 14, Johnson 2-5 2-5 7, Dortland 3-11 0-0 8, Anderson 5-6 1-1 11, Kirchhoff 1-2 0-0 3, Rumford 3-5 0-0 6, Leveque 0-0 0-0 0, Player 1-1 0-0 2. Totals – 21-50 10-16 57.
3-pointers – Garden 5-10 (Afoa 3-4, Martin 1-2, Neves 1-2, Lawhorne 0-1, Washington 0-2), Barton 5-17 (Dortland 2-6, Kirchhoff 1-1, Johnson 1-2, Oduah 1-6, Ulabo 0-1, Rumford 0-1).
Rebounds – Garden 34 (Stephens 6, McGee 6), Barton 30 (Ulabo 13). Assists – Garden 6 (Martin 2, Neves 2), Barton 12 (Dortland 5). Steals – Garden 7 (Stephens 2, Mapang 2), Barton 7 (Kirchhoff 2, Rumford 2). Blocks – Garden 2 (Zagorac, Martin), Barton 2 (Ulabo, Rumford).
Turnovers – Garden 13, Barton 17. Fouled Out – Dortland, Barton. Technicals – None.
