The Barton Community College women’s basketball team travels to Wichita today to challenge the No. 2 seed from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Eastern Division Independence.
The National Junior College Athletic Association Region VI tournament second-round game is set to tipoff at 3 p.m. at Charles Koch Arena.
The Lady Pirates, who are ranked No. 23 in the latest NJCAA poll, are 29-2 overall this season and finished in second on the KJCCC East standings behind Cowley, 24-7, 11-1.
The two teams met on Nov. 13 at the Barton Classic. Independence won, 73-61.
“You know, we lost to them early on in the year,” Barton head coach Keith Ferguson said. “They’re one of the best teams in the country. I mean they’re really good. I think they’re ranked 22nd or 23rd, and it’s just another team we’ve got to play. We’re excited to get them again. At least it’s somebody we’ve seen. Hopefully we can keep playing well and do some things and have a chance to be in the game.”
Jennifer Johnson, a 5-foot-11 freshman forward, leads the Lady Pirates with 13.8 points per game, hitting 167 of 374 for 44.7 percent from the field. Johnson had a double-double against the Cougars in the classic, scoring 16 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
Taylor Floyd averages 12.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Floyd led Independence against BCC in November, scoring 28 points.
Liene Priede also averages double figures with 10.5 points per game.
The Lady Pirates average 69.9 points per game while holding its opponents to a 53.3 average.
On the flip side, Barton averages 70.7 points per game while allowin g only 61.1 points for its challenger.
In Tuesday night’s opening-round game against Labette, the Cougars padded that average by ringing up 84 points while allowing 47.
It was the highest point total of any team in the first round of the tournament.
“Well that’s good I guess,” Ferguson said of having the highest point total in the first round. “At least our offense is clicking some. But Hutch didn’t get a chance to play with a first round bye.”
For the second consecutive game, Dionne Harris led BCC in scoring, putting in 16 points in 18 minutes on the court. Harris closed out the regular season by reaching career highs in points (26), rebounds (19) and steals (6) in the Cougars win over Pratt, 72-42.
Harris now averages 10.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Christina Caddy, who scored 11 points against Labette, leads the Cougars with 12.7 points per game, putting in 133 of her 376 field goals for 35.4 percent. Caddy punched in 12 points against the Lady Pirates in the classic.
Raven Adams led the Cougars against Independence back in November, scoring 16 points. Adams averages 8.6 points per game this season.