Every player on the Barton Community College women’s basketball team put points on the board against Labette in their 84-47 win in the first round of the National Junior College Athletics Association Region VI tournament on Tuesday night.
The win advances the Cougars, 21-10 overall, into the second round of the tournament, where they will face Independence on Friday at 3 p.m. in Wichita. Independence is 29-2 overall this season with a first-round win over Colby, 74-64.
“We played well offensively,” Barton head coach Keith Ferguson said. “We did a nice job attacking the rim, and they got some kids in foul trouble because they were reaching and doing some stuff. Our kids kept battling. So it was nice to see them really attack and really be aggressive.”
Starting at the 14:25 mark in the second half, Barton went on a 16-2 run to launch them to a 60-25 lead with 10:15 remaining.
The run started with a pair of free throws from Dionne Harris, who scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Harris followed the free throws with a defensive rebound and a layup on the other end of the court.
Jara Shoemaker followed that with a jumper.
Raven Taylor scored two points for the Lady Cardinals. Shoemaker followed it with her second 3-pointer on the night.
Harris, who sat out a lot of the first half due to foul trouble and fouled out with 45 seconds left in the game, scored another two points after an offensive rebound.
“(Harris) was good,” Ferguson said. “You know, I wasn’t disappointed with her fouls. I thought they were aggressive fouls. I thought they were going at the rim and trying to get rebounds, and if she gets 16 and eight, I can live with those. Netanya (Jackson) came in and did a nice job, and Christina (Caddy) did a nice job rebounding, too.”
Raven Adams put in the first of two free throws and then Caddy put in a pair from the free-throw line. Caddy finished the game with 11 points and seven boards.
Jackson, who finished with 11 points and six rebounds, scored two points to finish the run at 10:15 remaining.
In the first half, a 14-0 run put some distance between Barton and the Lady Cardinals.
At the 8:39 mark, Jackson, who led the Cougars with seven points in the first half, put in a pair of free throws to begin the run that lasted three minutes, 43 seconds.
Alisha Fanshier and Shea Shoemaker each followed the free throws with a layup. Shoemaker then went to the line and hit the front end of a one-and-one.
Fanshier hit the first of two free throws at the 6:56 mark.
Jara Shoemaker, who finished with 12 points, put up a jumper for two points, and Adams finished the run with four points off of a jumper and a layup.
Labette had 16 turnovers in the first half, and the Cougars took a 37-18 lead into the locker
Cerissa McMillan was also in double figures with 10 points, all of which came in the second half.
The Cougars finished the game 30 of 67 from the field for 44.8 percent, hitting 5 of 11 3-pointers for 45.5 percent.
“We shot well,” Ferguson said. “It was good to see some of these kids need to hits shots. Some of them really needed to play well. I thought our bench was really great tonight. They came out with 38 points. Our starters did a nice job, and our bench did a nice job extending the lead. We really need them to at least extend a lead or keep a lead to give our starters some rest. So I was happy to see how they did tonight.”