ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Last season the Barton women’s basketball team struggled on the road. Barton played well at home but didn’t have the same success away from the friendly confines of the Barton Gym.
So this season Coach Alan Clark wanted to get some true road games in before Jayhawk play starts in December.
Some really long road games. In fact, Florida long.
The Cougars played a pair of games in Florida to start the Thanksgiving week, splitting those contests.
Barton started with a 75-61 win at Palm Beach State Monday then lost at St. Petersburg Tuesday by an 81-72 score.
The loss was the first of the season for Barton, now 5-1.
“I think this trip accomplished what we wanted,” Coach Alan Clark said. “It was an eye-opening experience for the freshman. We had to see if the sophomores were better at competing on the road and I think they proved that we should be okay in that aspect this year.”
In the loss to St. Petersburg (4-2), Barton fell behind early and spent the rest of the night in pursuit of the Titans.
Barton trailed 21-9 at the end of the first quarter. But the Cougars weren’t fazed. Barton started the second quarter on a 7-0 run before the Titans finally got on the board four minutes into the second period with a free throw.
The Cougars got the lead down to three on a couple of occasions and went to half down 33-26.
Mallory Miller started the third period off with back-to-back to 3-pointers and suddenly it was a 1-point game. Barton had a couple of chances to take the lead but came up empty.
Eventually, the Titans got their lead back to seven at 39-32. St. Petersburg played the rest of the third quarter with the lead. Another Barton run late in the third got the lead down to a pair but a sloppy last minute allowed the Titans to score four points and take a 53-47 lead into the final period.
Barton finally caught the Titans with 7:24 to play in the fourth quarter on a fast-break bucket by Taylor Regan to make it a 57-all game.
But back-to-back 3-pointer by St. Petersburg’s Mariah Igus - the first on a bank shot - gave the Titans a 65-59 lead with six minutes left. A third trey from Igus made it 68-61. She finished with 25 points.
The Titans would continue to knock down shots and Barton was not able to recover this time.
“We kept battling back,” Coach Clark said. “They were big and strong and athletic but we didn’t back down. Two things really hurt us. We didn’t make shots early and we gave too many offensive rebounds.”
Indeed, Barton gave up 27 offensive rebounds on the night.
Jaylin Stapleton led Barton with 17 thanks in large part to a 10-for-11 night at the free throw line. As a team, Barton hit 30-of-38 free throws. Miller finished with 14 points on four 3-points. Regan scored 12 and Ryen White 10.
The Cougars started the trip with a contest at Palm Beach State, winning the first road test of the season before making the 3-hour drive to St. Petersburg.
“I was pleased with how we started,” Coach Clark said. “That was our first road game and we jumped out to a 16-point lead on them.”
But the Panthers put a full court press on the Cougars that bothered Barton, allowing the host team to cut the margin to 39-33 at the half.
The Cougars settled in and began handling the press, never allowing the Panthers to tie or take the lead. The closet Palm Beach would get was within three in the third quarter.
Barton, behind the play of Regan, began to pull away in the second part of the final period.
“Taylor made big plays down the stretch,” Coach Clark said. “It was a physical game. The kids battled their rear ends off.
“I don’t’ think as freshmen last year this team would have won that game. But we battled on the road. That was great to see.”
Regan finished with a game-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds. Stapleton added 15 points. Fatou Ndau collected a double-double with 10 points and 12 boards.
Barton is back home a week from Wednesday to take on Hesston College. Tip for the Nov. 28 game is 5:30 pm and will be followed by the men against the Sterling JV.
St. Petersburg 81, Barton 72
Barton 9 17 21 25 -- 72
St Pete 21 12 20 28-- 81
Barton (5-1) 72
Stapleton 3 10-11 17, Regan 2 8-8 12, Ndao 3 0-3 6, Miller 5 0-0 14, Chukwudi 1 2-2 4, Turney 1 0-0 2, White 3 3-6 10, Dirks 0 2-2 2, Davis 0 2-2 2. Totals – 19 30-38 72.
St. Petersburg (4-2) 81
Long 5 0-0 12, Igus 9 2-2 25, Graham 2 0-0 4, Kabundi 2 0-0 4, Wallace 1 1-2 3, Wilford 5 1-1 11, Walker 7 0-0 14, Rudolph 0 0-0 0, Leaks 0 4-4 4, Clowers 2 0-0 4. Totals – 33 8-9 81.
3-pointers – Barton 6 (Miller 4, Stapleton 1, White 1), St. Pete 7 (Igus 5, Long 2).
Barton 75, Palm Beach St. 61
Barton
28 11 17 18 -- 75
P Beach
18 15 18 10 -- 61
Barton (5-0) 75
Stapleton 3 9-11 15, Regan 8 4-5 21, Ndao 5 0-0 10, Miller 0 1-2 1, Chukwudi 4 0-0 8, Turney 3 0-0 7, Keith 1 3-4 6, Davis 3 0-0 6, Nichols 0 1-2 1. Totals – 27 18-24 75..
Palm Beach (1-5) 61
Individual scoring not available.
3-pointers – Barton 3 (Regan, Keith, Turney).
