A Mallory Miller buzzer-beater to knock off Butler Saturday night was a big win for the Barton women’s basketball team.
But the win the Cougars pulled off Tuesday night at the Barton Gym was a huge win.
Barton knocked off the No. 8 team in the nation, handing Seward County its first loss of the season. The Cougars stunned the Saints, 89-80, in Jayhawk Conference play.
The Cougars improved to 6-2 overall and 3-1 in the Jayhawk. Seward is 5-1 and 3-1. It is just Seward’s second conference loss the last two seasons. The Saints went 25-1 in the Jayhawk last year. It was Barton’s first win over Seward in four seasons.
“It wasn’t just that we won but how we won,” Coach Alan Clark said. “We dominated them on the boards and controlled the game throughout.
“They only give up 59 points and game we scored 89. To be that is impressive. We played well on offense.”
Barton led from the opening tip and never trailed in the game. The Cougars’ lead reached double figures in the first quarter when Jaylin Stapleton knocked down a jumper for a 16-5 lead with 2:55 left.
By the end of the quarter it was 20-5 after a pair of free throws by Mikaela Jellison capped a 14-2 run.
The Saints got the lead down to seven and appeared to be making the anticipated comeback to start the second quarter.
But Barton wouldn’t go away. In fact, when Fatou Ndao hit a fade-away 10-footer and the ensuing free throw after being knocked the floor, Barton had a 31-18 lead. It went back to 15 on a Miller jumper the next trip down with 5:45 to play before half.
Every time Seward challenged, Barton responded. Another Miller trey with 2:00 left pushed the lead back to 15 once again at 43-28. The Cougars took a 45-33 lead to halftime.
The lead grew to 17 points when Jellison hit a jumper in the lane with six minutes left in the third period for a 53-37 lead.
Much like the opening half, Seward would cut the margin to 10 and Barton would answer. This time on a traditional 3-point play by Miller that made it 57-44 and put Miller over the 20-point mark with 21.
A late Seward run to end the third finally got the lead under 10 for the first time since early in the second quarter at 63-54 with just 10 minutes to play.
Once again, Barton did not panic. When Miller hit her fifth trey with 7:15 left in the game, Barton led 72-58.
“Every time they made a run, Mallory would make a big shot or Jaylin would get to the basket,” Coach Clark said. “We always seemed to have someone step up when we needed it.”
The Cougars still led by 10, 77-67, with 4:30 to play. The game stayed that way until reigning Jayhawk Player of the Year Mollie Mounsey hit a driving layup to make it 77-69 with 3:30 to play. Those final three minutes could not go quick enough for the Cougars who turned the ball over four straight times at one point.
A Hernandez 3-pointer cut the lead to five, 77-72 with 2:25 left. The next trip down the floor Miller perhaps her biggest 3-pointer of the game to give Barton an 80-72 lead with just 2:02 to play.
That settled the Cougars down. From there, the only thing that would separate the Cougars from a win would be making free throws. They did. Barton hit 9-of-12 charity tosses in the final 1:23 to earn the win. Stapleton made 6-of-6.
Miller scored a career-high 27 to lead Barton on a sizzling 6-of-7 3-point shooting. Stapleton, thanks to hitting 11-of-12 free throws, added 23.
In perhaps the most noticeable stat, the Cougars out-rebounded the Saints, 47-26. Ndao finished with 12 rebounds to go with seven points and Regan 11 boards to go with eight points.
Mounsey finished with 19 to lead Seward but had to work for them, shooting just 6-of-16 from the field and 2-of-8 on treys.
Barton will head to the road this weekend to face another unbeaten team. The Cougars will make the trip to Arkansas City to take on Cowley, 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the Jayhawk following a 69-57 win at Butler. Cowley is tied with Independence for the Jayhawk lead. Tip is set for 5:30 pm Saturday.
That will wrap up a stretch of playing four of the top five teams in the Jayhawk preseason poll.

Barton 89, No. 8 Seward County 80
Seward 5 28 21 26 – 80
Barton 20 25 18 26 – 89
Seward (5-1, 3-1) 80
Seagler 1-7 0-0 3, Val. Caro 0-2 0-0 0, Veloso 3-6 0-0 6, Mounsey 6-16 5-6 19, V. Covane 2-6 2-4 6, Scott 6-10 0-0 16, Hernandez 3-9 2-2 11, Tinner 1-3 2-2 4, Van. Caro 2-6 2-2 8, Greene 0-0 0-0 0, Lazenby 0-1 0-0 0, C. Covane 3-4 1-1 7. Totals – 27-70 14-17 80.
Barton (6-2, 3-1) 89
Chagas 2-3 5-6 9, Stapleton 6-16 11-12 23, Regan 2-4 4-8 8, Jellison 3-10 2-2 8, Chukwudi 1-1 0-0 2, Dixon 2-4 0-0 5, Ndao 3-7 1-1 7, Dirks 0-0 0-0 0, Dolinsky 0-1 0-0 0, Miller 10-13 1-1 27. Totals – 29-59 24-30 89.
3-pointers – Seward 12-39 (Scott 4-8, Hernandez 3-9, Van. Caro 2-4, Mounsey 2-8, Seagler 1-5, Val. Caro 0-1, Tinner 0-1, Lazenby 0-1, Veloso 0-2); Barton 7-14 (Miller 6-7, Dixon 1-3, Regan 0-1, Stapleton 0-3).
Rebounds – Seward 26 (Mounsey 5); Barton 47 (Ndao 12, Regan 11). Assists – Seward 14 (Mounsey 3); Barton 14 (Jellison 4). Steals – Seward 9 (Hernandez 3); Barton 2 (Stapleton, Ndao). Blocks – Seward 4 (V, Covane 2); Barton 6 (Regan 4).
Turnovers – Seward 9, Barton 18. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – None.