The Barton Community College women's basketball team scored the first 13 points Tuesday, rolling to a 77-40 victory over Sterling College's junior varsity to give head coach Alan Clark his 200th win on his birthday.
Barton (4-0) plays No. 14 Murray State Friday and Redlands, Okla. Saturday in the Best Western/Booster Club Classic.
Great Bend's Mersadie Spray led Barton with 17 points in 19 minutes. Ines Gobert added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench. Laura Ariza chipped in nine points and four steals. Bryndal Moody matched Ariza with four steals and led Barton with four assists. Mary Akinde grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and blocked three shots.
Barton collected 21 steals and turned 34 Sterling turnovers into 30 points. The Cougars also grabbed 27 offensive rebounds, scored 21 second-chance points and outscored Sterling 46-4 in the paint.
The Cougars held Sterling scoreless for the first 6:31 and led 19-8 after one quarter. Sterling pulled within 25-15 in the second before Barton scored 11 straight as part of a 17-2 run to close the half.
Christal Long scored on back-to-back possessions and Gobert added a jumper to send the Cougars into halftime with a 42-17 lead.
Spray scored nine of Barton's first 13 points after the break, helping stretch the lead to 55-23. The Cougars took a 68-32 advantage into the fourth, where Kylee Reece's free throw with 4:41 remaining put all 12 Barton players in the scoring column.
Adali Valdez led Sterling with 15 points on five 3-pointers as Reece Smith and Alex Terverbaugh each hauled down a game high 10 rebounds and combined 13 points.
Sterling 8 9 15 8 — 40
Barton 19 23 26 9 — 77
STERLING JV (0-1)—Valdez 5-16 (5-14) 0-0 15; Duffy 3-5 (2-3) 0-0 8; Terverbaugh 1-8 (1-2) 4-4 7; Reece Smith 2-14 (1-8) 1-2 6; Wesner 0-4 (0-1) 0-0 0; Diabel (0-2) 0-0 0; Allyson Smith 1-3 (0-1) 0-2 2; Tamburino 1-1 0-2 2; Totals 13-53 (9-31) 5-10 40.
BARTON (4-0)—Spray 5-8 7-9 17; Ariza 3-11 (1-2) 2-2 9; Gobert 5-9 (0-2) 0-0 10; Romero 3-4 (2-2) 0-0 8; Long 3-8 (1-3) 0-0 7; Moody 2-4 (1-2) 2-4 7; Akinde 2-10 1-2 5; Wright 2-4 (0-1) 1-2 5; Hughes 2-7 (0-3) 1-2 5; Ackerman 1-3 (1-2) 1-4 4; Reece 0-3 (0-1) 1-2 1; Emechete 1-2 0-2 2; Totals 28-77 (4-19) 17-31 77.
Rebounds—S 41 (R. Smith 10), BC 54 (Akinde 8). Assists—S 9 (Valdez 2, A. Smith 2, Wesner 2), BC 14 (Moody 4). Steals—S 4 (4 with 1), BC 21 (Azira 4, Moody 4). Turnovers—B 34, BC 15.
