The Barton women’s basketball team seems to be finding its stride.
Saturday at the Barton Gym was another indication of that.
The Cougars ran their winning streak to four games with a 73-61 win over Dodge City. The four straight wins in just one shy of season high.
With that win, Barton put itself two games clear of fourth place in the Jayhawk West. The Cougars are now 11-5 in the West and 18-7 overall. The loss ended a 4-game winning streak for Dodge City, now 8-8 and 13-12.
Hutchinson and Seward still lead the West at 15-1. Pratt is between Barton and Dodge at 9-7. Seward survived a scare from Pratt Saturday night in Liberal, winning 66-59 in a game Pratt had a shot to take the lead in the final minute.
The contest Saturday at the Barton Gym was in stark contrast to the game the two teams played in Dodge City just less than one month ago, won by Barton 45-42.
In that game, Barton had just 15 points at halftime, finishing with that season low total of 45. The Cougars trailed much of that contest in Dodge and just held on for the win.
Saturday, Barton scored the first five points and never trailed.
Barton led by nine after the first a held a double digit lead for most of the second period, leading by as many as 13 before settling for a 31-20 halftime advantage.
The Cougars blew the game open in the third period. Four minutes in, Jaylin Stapleton hit Taylor Regan with a perfect bounce pass in the lane for a basket and foul. The ensuing free throw gave Barton a 43-27 lead.
The lead grew to 20, 49-29, on a fast break bucket by Stapleton with 3:30 left in the third. Dodge cut into the lead before the end of the period, but with seven seconds left Dodge’s Ashia Pool was whistled for a foul near midcourt on Stapleton, then hit with a technical after she continued to jaw at Stapleton.
Stapleton hit all four free throws to push the lead back to 20 at 57-37 at the end of three.
Barton led by as many as 24 before Dodge City did some cosmetic work on the score in the final minutes of the fourth period for the 12 pint final margin.
Regan led a handful of Cougars in double figures with 14 points to go with seven rebounds. Stapleton added 12 and led Barton with nine rebounds and seven assists. Ryen White, Irene Chukwudi and Richelle Turney all tossed in 10.
Barton will look to match its longest winning streak of the season Monday with the long trip to Colby. The Trojans have been struggling. Colby has lost seven straight, including a loss at Northwest Tech Saturday. It was the first win of the season for the Mavericks. Colby is 3-13 in the West. Wednesday Barton is back home to take on that same Northwest Tech team.
Then things get tough as Seward comes to the Barton Gym before trip to Hutchinson as Barton takes on the West leaders in back-to-back games.
Barton 73, Dodge 61
Dodge 8 12 17 24 – 61
Barton 17 14 26 16 – 73
Dodge (13-12, 8-8) 61
Fitts 0-4 2-2 2, Rowley 1-4 1-2 4, Maple 1-2 0-0 2, Baker 3-7 0-0 6, Hill 2-4 1-2 7, Fairbanks 0-1 0-0 0, Ewing 3-6 2-2 9, Adams 4-12 2-2 10, Nelson 4-10 3-4 11, Pool 2-9 2-3 6, Catthouse 1-3 1-1 3, Dale 0-2 0-0 0, Petrakis 0-0 1-2 1. Totals – 21-64 15-20 61.
Barton (18-7, 11-5) 73
White 3-6 3-6 10, Stapleton 2-9 8-8 12, Regan 5-6 4-5 14, Miller 2-4 0-0 5, Chukwudi 5-6 0-0 10, Turney 3-8 4-4 1, Hunt 0-0 0-0 0, Keith 1-3 0-0 3, Ndao 0-0 0-0 0, Dirks 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 2-3 0-0 4, Nichols 1-7 3-4 5, Dolinsky 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 24-53 22-27 73.
3-pointers – Dodge 4-20 (Hill 2-3, Ewing 1-2, Rowley 1-4, Fitts 0-1, Fairbank 0-1, Pool 0-1, Nelson 0-2, Baker 0-3, Adams 0-3), Barton 3-16 (White 1-2, Miller 1-2, Keith 1-3, Regan 0-1, Dirks 0-1, Stapleton 0-2, Nichols 0-2, Turney 0-3).
Rebounds – Dodge 33 (Dale 7), Barton 42 (Stapleon 9). Assists – Dodge 6 (Hill 2), Barton 12 (Stapleton 7). Steals – Dodge 8 (Nelson 3), Barton 5 (Regan, Miller 2). Blocks – Dodge 5 (Dale 2), Barton 3 (3 with 1).
Turnovers – Dodge 10, Barton 14. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – Pool, Dodge.
