The offensive flow had yet to kick in for the Barton Community College women’s basketball team on Saturday night against Colby on Homecoming at Kirkman Activity Center.
The Lady Cougars were getting themselves to the line early, making eight straight free throws in building a 12-8 lead with 13:50 left before halftime.
The flow kicked in shortly thereafter. BCC rode the wave of a 17-5 run over the next seven-plus minutes for a 29-13 lead with 5:58 left before halftime on Devan Boeger’s 3-pointer.
Yet Barton, which led 34-25 at the break, needed every bit of its early run to survive a second-half rush by Colby and the Lady Cougars pulled away for a 68-51 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division victory.
“It was a game where we wanted to establish our defensive side and let everything else come from there,” BCC head coach Darin Spence said. “I thought, offensively, we played well in spurts. We really conditioned really hard on Monday and Tuesday and I think that had an effect.
“We were still a little lethargic, but we still had enough spurts to keep our distance. When you get in conference play, you can’t go and hide from people. Everybody is going to come back.”
After Colby got within 48-47, Barton uncorked its decisive spurt, going on a game-deciding 13-2 run over the next three minutes. Erin Copeland hit a driving layup at the 8:05 mark, Shea Shoemaker drilled a 3-pointer, Raven Anderson scored from underneath, Boeger nailed a 3 and Blair Bloomfield hit a shot from the left wing.
All of a sudden, the Lady Cougars slim lead had ballooned to 61-49 near the four-minute mark and they would maintain that margin to the rest of the way.
Barton, which was led by Shoemaker with 12 points and Dionne Harris and Bloomfield with 10 apiece, improved to 17-11, 7-7.
“I think what was big in the second half was how Blair played,” Spence said of Bloomfield, who had a team-best eight of the Lady Cougars’ 39 rebounds. “She ran the floor, grabbed loose balls and rebounds.
“She really got us going in the second half and sparked us.”
Colby, which fell to 8-21, 4-11, was led by Liga Vente’s 15 points and 13 from Katarina Popovic.
BCC returns to action on Wednesday, traveling to Pratt. The women’s game is set for 6 p.m.
KANSAS JAYHAWK COMMUNITY
COLLEGE CONFERENCE
WESTERN DIVISION
At Great Bend
Kirkman Activity Center
WOMEN
Saturday
Barton 68, Colby 51
COLBY (8-21, 4-11)
Brooke Bursiek 2-6 0-0 5, Morgan Rickwartz 0-8 2-2 2, Shantydra Arnold 2-3 0-0 4, Liga Vente 5-12 5-6 15, Marie McAbee 1-2 0-0 2, Angee Latoush 0-1 0-0 0, Chelesa Jonte 0-0 0-0 0, Cheyenne Eisenhour 3-8 0-0 8, Mallorie Salmans 0-0 0-0 0, Katarina Popovic 5-9 3-5 13, Emily Torson 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 18-50 12-15 51.
BARTON (22-5, 8-5)
Raven Anderson 3-7 1-4 7, Blair Bloomfield 4-9 2-4 10, Netanya Jackson 0-3 6-8 6, Dionne Harris 4-9 2-2 10, Erin Copeland 2-5 2-2 7, Devan Boeger 3-5 0-1 8, Shea Shoemaker 3-10 4-4 12, Taschell Phillips 2-5 2-4 6, Ta’Kerra Williams 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 22-55 19-29 68.
Halftime — Barton 34, Colby 25. Three-point goals — Barton 5-15 (Shoemaker 2-7, Boeger 2-3, Copeland 1-3, Bloomfield 0-2); Colby 3-15 (Eisenhour 2-6, Rickwartz 0-4, Bursiek 1-3, Torson 0-1, Latoush 0-1). Rebounds — Barton 39 (Bloomfield 8, Anderson 7, Harris 6, Shoemaker 5, Williams 5); Colby 36 (Popovic 8, Vente 5). Assists — Barton 16 (Anderson 6, Copeland); Colby 13 (Rickwartz 3, Latoush 3). Turnovers — Colby 25, Barton 17.
