Barton women’s head basketball coach Darin Spence said that he wasn’t happy with how his team closed out Wednesday’s 69-63 overtime loss to Labette.
“I was frustrated and disappointed,” said Spence, who finished his first season at Barton on Wednesday. “We had a 14-point lead and we just stopped playing. We lost our composure. They made a run, and the crowd started to get into it.
“We were in a position to win it. We had that lead midway through the second half. We should have been able to play solid possession basketball and close out the game.”
Spence said that the one bright spot in the game was freshman Blair Bloomfield, who scored 12 points and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the loss. Bloomfield closes the season averaging 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
“I was really pleased with Blair,” Spence said. “She was the one player in our uniform that didn’t seem to let up. While everybody else was looking for a place to hide, she was trying to get her teammates fired up. She was energetic. She played well all night.
“She shows a lot of promise for the future. She’s been the hardest working player on our team as far as working on her game.”
Overall, Spence said that the season was a positive one.
“We were picked to finish in sixth place and we finished in fifth,” Spence said. “We had more injuries than any other team in the league, and we took over on Aug. 12 or something like that. We ended with 18 wins. We beat a third-ranked team and a sixth-ranked team.
“We took some steps toward where we want to be. I’d say it was a good season.”
Barton graduates four sophomores — Dionne Harris, Shea Shoemaker, Netanya Jackson and Devan Boeger.
Harris led Barton this season with 13.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.