It just hasn’t been a good match up. The Barton women’s basketball team has been playing improved basketball. That didn’t matter Saturday as the Cougars ran into a tall Seward County team that has given them fits now twice.
Barton fell way behind early and never threatened as Seward won easily, 82-65, at the Green House in Liberal.
Barton fell behind 9-0 and the Saints continued to expand that lead into the third quarter. Barton played better in those final two quarters but never threatened the Saints.
The loss dropped the Cougars to 6-11 in the Jayhawk Conference and 14-14 overall with two games left in the regular season. Seward is not 10-5 in the conference and 18-7 overall.
The result all but assured the Cougars the 10th place spot in the Jayhawk. That would probably mean a first round match up with either Butler County, Cloud County, or Independence on the road.
Garden City leads the Jayhawk at 14-2 followed by Hutchinson at 14-3. Hutch had its 132-game home court winning streak broken Saturday by Cloud, 67-57.
Barton will get that suddenly hot Cloud team in its next game. Cloud’s last two outings have been a 53-38 drubbing of Seward in Concordia and the upset win at the Sports Arena. Cloud has won four straight and is 10-6 in the Jayhawk.
At the Green House Saturday, it didn’t take Seward long to establish control in the contest. The Saints scored on their first four possessions to take a 9-0 lead. It reached 17-4 at the midway point of the quarter and the Saints led 25-11 after the first.
The lead grew to 46-24 by half 52-25 early in the third period. Barton would play better after that but it was too little too late.
Regan Unruh scored 20 to lead the Cougars to go with a team-high nine rebounds. Alexus Bryson added 11 and Tyanna Warren with 10.
Axelle Bernard scored 27 and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Seward.
The last two games will be daunting to say the least for the Cougars. After hosting one of the hottest teams in the conference in Cloud, Barton will travel to Hutchinson to take on the defending conference champion, fighting for the top spot in the conference yet again. It will be Hutchinson’s first game since the loss to Cloud.