The Barton Community College women’s basketball team came up a point shy in their 2015 Jayhawk conference opener Wednesday night falling 57-56 at Pratt Community College.The loss was the fourth straight at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena dropping Barton to 8-4 on the season while Pratt improves to 7-3. The Lady Cougars will head to El Dorado on Saturday for their next contest playing at Nol. 15 ranked Butler Community College in a 2:00 p.m. tip at the Power Plant.
Trailing by as many as twelve and playing against key first half foul trouble, the shooting of Kilee Harris and Regan Unruh kept the Lady Cougars in the ball game as Harris’ fourth trey of the first half drew Barton to within five 31-26 at the break.
The momentum carried into the third quarter and following a Jalisa Jones 1-of-2 trip to the line tied it up, Alexus Bryson‘s driving jumper seized Barton’s first lead since an Unruh trey opened up the game. The Lady Cougars would outscore Pratt 19-12 in the quarter carrying a 45-43 lead to the final ten minutes.
Making only 9-of-16 second half free throws including four straight misses in a key early fourth quarter stretch, opened the door for a Pratt surge. With the Lady Cougars clinging to a three-point edge a 9-2 Beaver run turned the tide to Pratt’s side leading 54-50 with 2:45 to play.
Draining a pair of free throws, Jones would then score on the next offensive possession following a Barton offensive rebound to reach a new career high in tying the game at 54 with 1:45 to play.
Barton came up with a couple big defensive stands but can’t convert on offensive end, leaving Pratt with ten seconds on the shot clock and just under forty ticks on the game clock. Coming off a low block baseline screen, Taneasha Rhode’s six-foot jumper off the glass gave the Beavers a two point lead.
Following a Barton timeout with twenty-two seconds remaining, the Lady Cougars worked around the perimeter to Harris in the right corner but Pratt’s Breanna Baxter came up with a huge partial deflection of the potential three-pointer as Lexi Schamberger secured the defensive rebound. Jazzman Ortiz would go to the line making only 1-of-2 leaving a door open for the Lady Cougars down three inbounding the ball with 11.4 seconds left in front of their own bench.
With none of the perimeter shooters open, Jones had to drive to the basket looking to draw a foul but instead her driving layup dropped in as the buzzer sounded leaving the Lady Cougars one point short of snapping its three game skid at the Beaver Dome.
Jones’ career night would lead three Lady Cougars in double digits as all three would post double-double performances. Grabbing a career high fourteen rebounds Jones would lead all scorers with her career best twenty-one points also recording her third double-double of the season. Harris, who knocked down all four of her treys in first half action, also picked up her third double-double finishing with twelve points and thirteen rebounds. Collecting her sixth double-double of the season Megan Jirak finished with a workmanlike ten rebounds and fourteen rebounds. Unruh added eight points while Bryson dished out five assists and scored five points despite being saddled with early foul trouble.
Rhode led two Lady Beavers in double-digit scoring with fifteen to go along with a team high eleven boards. Ortiz contributed twelve points and led Pratt in assists dishing out seven.
