More than anything, it was a matter of taking care of business Saturday afternoon for the Barton women's basketball team.
The Cougars had just come off a big Jayhawk West road win at Garden City and had Colby coming into the Barton Gym.
Colby brought with it just a 1-6 conference mark. Oh, and there would be no men's game to follow.
Not to worry. It maybe wasn't always pretty, but Barton did what it needed to do.
The Cougars defeated Colby, 63-54, to remain in third place in the West. Barton is 6-3 in the West standings. Seward is 5-1 and Hutchinson is 7-2.
Saturday at the Barton Gym, the Cougars scored the game's first eight points and added an 11-0 run later in the first half to take control of the game.
A pair of Tiffany Dortland 3-pointers keyed the 8-0 start. Colby rallied to take a 14-13 lead on Barton with just more than three minutes to play in the opening quarter.
The Cougars answered with the final nine points of the first period. Dortland again sparked it with a traditional 3-point play and capped with a a pair of free throws to complete an 11-point period for the Russell sophomore and give Barton a 22-14 lead.
It reached 24-14 in the opening minute of the second period on a Marliah Johnson jumper and Barton never trailed the rest of the way.
The Cougars went to half up 36-24.
The lead reached 15 early in the third period as Dortland made her third trey in the opening minute.
Colby did get it down to five points in the final period as the Trojans scored the first six points of the final period.
The Trojans got the game as close a 57-54 with 1:42 to play but would not score again as Barton held on for the win.
Dortland ended the game with 20 points to lead the Cougars, adding seven rebounds. Queen Ulabo added 18 and a team-high eight boards. Vanessa Oduah handed out seven assists.
Kiarra Henderson led Colby with 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Colby was able to get off a stunning 81 shots in the game, thanks in large part to 31 Barton turnovers. But the Trojans made just 19 for 24 percent. Barton was 22-of-49 from the floor and 14-of-18 from the free throw line.
Barton will head to Northwest Kansas and Goodland with a game at Northwest Tech on Wednesday. The Cougars lost to the Mavericks earlier in the year at Barton.
At that time, the Mavericks were among the West leaders. Since that time, NW Tech has lost four of five and are now 5-5 in the conference. That is good for the fourth spot.
Barton 63, Colby 54
Colby 14 10 16 14 – 54
Barton 22 14 15 12 – 63
Colby (2-7, 1-7) 54
Finley 0-3 0-0 0, Henderson 4-10 5-10 13, K Johnson 4-9 2-2 12, Alatini 2-11 0-0 6, Ross 2-6 0-0 5, T Johnson 0-3 0-0 0, Da Vigilante 4-12 0-0 11, De Vigilante 0-8 0-0 0, Grant 3-17 0-0 7, Hughes 0-2 0-0 0. Totals – 19-81 7-12 54.
Barton (7-3, 6-3) 63
Dortland 6-13 5-7 20, Ulabo 5-10 7-8 18, Oduah 3-11 2-3 8, Johnson 1-4 0-0 2, Anderson 2-2 0-0 4, Willt 0-0 0-0 0, Rumford 2-2 0-0 5, Leveque 0-0 0-0 0, Player 3-7 0-0 6. Totals – 22-49 14-18 63.
3-pointers – Colby 3-39 (De Vigilante 3-11, K Johnson 2-4, Alatini 2-7, Ross 1-4, Grant 1-6, Henderson 0-1, Hughes 0-1, De Vigilante 0-2, Johnson 0-3), Barton 5-15 (Dortland 3-9, Ulabo 1-1, Rumford 1-1, Player 0-1, Oduah 0-3).
Rebounds – Colby 41 (Henderson 14), Barton 50 (Ulabo 8). Assists – Colby 11 (K Johnson 3), Barton 15 (Oduah 7). Steals – Colby 13 (Henderson 6), Barton 3 (Oduah 2). Blocks – Colby 3 (3 with 1), Barton 5 (Ulabo 3).
Turnovers – Colby 14, Barton 31. Fouled Out – Henderson, De Vigilante, Colby. Technicals – None.
