The Barton Community College women’s basketball team rallied from an eleven point second half deficit to pull off a 70-66 upset last night at the Barton Gym over Coffeyville Community College. Shooting over 43% for the first time in seven games and closing on a 19-4 run, the victory over the nationally receiving votes Ravens ends a three game slide for Barton improving to 4-9 in the Jayhawk Conference and getting back to the .500 mark at 12-12 while dropping Coffeyville into a third place conference tie at 10-3 and 18-6 overall. The Lady Cougars will next head to second place Garden City Community College for a 5:30 p.m. tip at the Dennis Perryman Gymnasium.
The Ravens took the early lead until a 7-0 Barton run began with a Regan Unruh baseline trey followed by an Alexus Bryson slash to the hoop, and 5’4″ Dominique Baker connecting on a tough bucket in the paint turned the tide to a 9-8 Lady Cougar lead. Battling back and forth for the next four minutes the Lady Cougars closed out the quarter by four to lead 17-15.
The teams heated up from the outside in second quarter as the Ravens’ Desiree Nelson knocked down a couple of treys but Baker and Kilee Harris countered with their own long balls as Barton grew the lead to five midway through the quarter. Foul trouble began to mount for Barton with Jalisa Jones going to the bench with five minutes on the clock with Harris following with her second just a minute later. Getting solid bench play from McKinna Kraus and frequent substitutions, the lady Cougars weathered the threat holding on to a 31-27 heading to the locker room.
Behind the aggressive play of its guards, Bryson began a 6-0 spurt sticking in a loose ball that just beat the shot clock horn then on the possession following, Baker came up with a steal beating the Raven defense to the rack. Forcing another Raven turnover, Baker then drove and dished to Kraus giving Barton its largest lead of eight at the 5:45 mark. The Ravens erased the deficit in the next 1:20 going on a 10-1 run grabbing a one point lead until a Jones 1-of-2 trip to the line tied it back up with 2:16 to play.
The game made a huge turn late in the third with the Lady Cougars leading by one after a Jones layup as the Barton bench picked up a technical foul disputing a non-call on a Harris jumper. Two Raven free throws ensued with an Antoinette Daniel jumper in the paint and just like that, Coffeyville owned a four point lead. A steal by Patriece Dodson on Barton’s next possession added to the hurt as Dodson buried a trey giving the Ville a 53-47 lead to the fourth quarter.
Barton cut the lead to four a couple of times early in the final frame until seven straight Raven points put the Lady Cougars in an eleven point hole with 6:19 to play. Following a Kraus jumper, the Barton defensive pressure kick started the comeback forcing three turnovers keying a 13-2 run over the ensuing two minutes with Megan Jirak‘s jumper from the elbow reclaiming the lead 66-64 with 2:28 to play.
The Ravens temporarily stopped the run getting a pair of charity throws by Jazmine Torian with 1:21 to tie it up one minute later. Again being the smallest player on the court unfazed Baker as the Mississippi sophomore sliced through the lane kissing a drive off the glass among three Raven players for the game winner with fifty-eight seconds on the clock.
The defense forced another Raven turnover, the twenty-first of the game, but the Lady Cougars were unable to capitalize reversing the ball back to Coffeyville on the next possession. Forcing a contested trey by the Ravens, Kraus secured the biggest of her four defensive rebounds with 16.7 seconds on the clock. With Coffeyville having two fouls to give, Jirak finally went to the line with twelve seconds completing her perfect 4-of-4 night from the line icing the game and finishing off Barton’s 19-4 run for the victory.
The combined twenty-eight points from guards Baker and Bryson led three Lady Cougars in double digit scoring. Baker, who reached double-digits for the sixth time in the last seven games, led with fifteen and four steals while distributing a career high nine assists. Bryson reached double digits for the second straight game adding thirteen while Jirak contributed ten. Harris just missed her seventh double-double of the season scoring nine while pulling down a team high ten. Kraus also had a solid game coming off the bench for nine points and six rebounds.
Only two Ravens reached double-figure scoring as Coffeyville sent twelve players at Barton with ten adding to the scoring column. Daniels led with twelve coming off the bench while Caletria Curtis added eleven. Daniels and Jade Carranza led a slim two rebound advantage over the Lady Cougars with seven each while Curtis distributed a team high three assists.
Barton finished the game shooting 46.3% from the field including a sizzling 52% second half effort for its best shooting display since late November while holding Coffeyville to only 38.1% for the best defensive effort in last four games.
