BY KEVIN PRICE
kprice@gbtribune.com
The Barton Community College women’s basketball team scored six points in the final 50 seconds to beat Seward County on Saturday night, 59-53.
The win gives the Cougars a 15-9 record overall, 7-3 in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division play.
Seward falls to 15-9 overall and 5-5 in the western division.
The Cougars struck Seward for five unanswered points right out of the gate.
On a steal directly after the tip off, Barton found Christina Caddy, who finished with a game-high 17 points, open in the paint for a layup. On the Cougars’ following possession, Caddy dropped in the first of her three 3-pointers in the first half.
However, the Lady Saints began to settle in to the fast-paced game and began to pick away at Barton’s passing lanes. Seward was able to get 12 steals, led by Hannah Rotolo, who snagged five in the first half, and force Barton to turn the ball over 19 times in the first 20 minutes to regain the lead, raising it to 19-10.
Barton was kept in the game by its perimeter shooting, getting three 3s from Caddy and a pair of treys from Cerissa McMillan, coming off the bench.
By the end of the first 20 minutes, the Lady Saints had a slight advantage, 31-29.
Neither team led by more than four points in the second half until the 2:14 mark, when Alisha Fanshier, who had been held to one point from the free-throw line, hit a 3 from the left side of the basket, making it 53-48.
Seward began to climb back with a layup from Mariah Lee and a 3-pointer from Rotolo to knot the game at 53 with 56.2 seconds left.
Barton got the ball back and moved the ball around on offense, finding Raven Adams open for a trey to put the Coguars up 56-53 with 29.5 remaining.
Adams, who finished with 11 points, turned around on defense and picked off a Lady Saints pass at the top of the key, took the ball to the rim and was fouled. She hit one of two free throws to make it 57-53 with 9.0 seconds left on the clock.
Fanshier immediately fouled Autumn Miller, who missed the front end of a one-and-one. The Lady Saints fouled Caddy with 6.3 left.
Caddy hit both free throws to seal a Cougars victory, 59-53.
