COFFEYVILLE – It wasn’t easy. Most road wins in the Jayhawk Conference aren’t. But the Barton women made all the plays down the stretch.
The Cougars picked up their first road win in Coffeyville since 2000 Wednesday night – a string of seven straight losses at Nellis Hall.
It wasn’t secure until a 3-pointer by Coffeyville at the buzzer missed that the Cougars secured their 53-50 win.
“We battled, we fought and we scratched,” Coach Alan Clark said. “It was an intense game.”
Barton is now 1-1 in the Jayhawk and 7-2 overall. Coffeyville falls to 1-2 and 1-10.
The game was back-and-forth all the way with neither team having a lead of more than five points. The fourth quarter was a microcosm of that. Both teams had 5-point leads. Barton led 42-37 early in the fourth. But a 12-2 run gave the Red Ravens a 49-44 lead with just less than four minutes to play.
That is when the Cougars began to make plays.
It started with a Ryen White 3-pointer to make it 49-47 with just more three minutes left. The next trip down it was Taylor Regan getting a basket to tie the game with 2:40 left.
Then it was Irene Chukwudi who stepped up on the defensive end. She recorded her fourth block of the game to give the ball back to Barton with a chance to take the lead with 1:40 left in the game.
The Cougars made it a 7-0 run when Chukwudi found Regan under the basket for a hoop and a foul. Regan missed the free throw, but the Cougars had a 51-49 lead with 1:14 left in the game.
“We were down five and we started to make some big plays,” Coach Clark said. “Our kids really showed some focus and made the plays we needed to down the stretch.”
Coffeyville’s effort to tie in the final minute lasted forever – nearly the entire minute.
First, Chukwudi altered a shot by the Red Ravens then blocked her fifth shot of the game. But an immediate turnover by Barton – its 25th of the game – in the backcourt kept the ball with the Red Ravens.
A missed 3-pointer by Tatiana McCree went out of bounds off the Cougars and Coffeyville had a fourth opportunity with 13 seconds to play.
This time McCree was fouled driving the basket. She missed the first free throw and made the second with just seven seconds to play. A timeout gave Barton the ball on their half of the court. Jaylin Stapleton was fouled with 4.8 seconds left and buried two free throws as the sophomore hit nothing but net on both.
One last gasp by McCree at the buzzer from near the top of the key missed almost everything the Cougars had a big road win.
Regan led Barton with 15 points and 10 rebounds. White added 11 points and seven rebounds. Stapleton finished with 10 points and four assists. Chukwudi had a big game with eight points, 10 rebounds, and those five big blocks.
The Cougars out-rebounded the Red Ravens 42-20 but committed those 25 turnovers to just 10 for Coffeyville.
Next up is the final home game of the first semester as Independence comes to the Barton Gym. Indy is 1-2 in the conference and 6-4 overall after a win at Northwest Tech Wednesday.
Barton 53, Coffeyville 50
Barton 19 6 15 13 – 53
Coffeyville 19 11 7 13 – 50
Barton (7-2, 1-1) 53
White 4-6 2-2 11, Stapleton 3-7 4-4 10, Regan 6-9 3-6 15, Miller 0-7 0-0 0, Chukwudi 3-6 2-2 8, Turney 1-5 0-0 3, Hunt 0-0 0-0 0, Keith 0-2 0-0 0, Ndao 2-3 0-0 4, Dirks 0-2 0-0 0, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Nichols 1-1 0-0 2. Totals – 20-48 11-14 53.
Coffeyville (1-10, 1-2) 50
McCree 0-10 3-4 3, Brown 2-11 2-4 7, Harjo 2-2 0-0 4, Wade 5-10 0-0 13, Guntin 1-3 0-0 2, Murphy 1-1 0-0 2, Calafell 2-6 2-2 7, Cole 0-4 0-0 0, Downing 1-1 0-0 2, Kramer 4-9 0-0 8, Carr 0-0 0-0 0, Joseph 1-4 0-0 2. Totals – 19-61 7-10 50.
3-pointers – Barton 2-16 (White 1-1, Turney 1-4, Stapleton 0-1, Regan 0-1, Dirks 0-1, Keith 0-2, Miller 0-6), Coffeyville 5-26 (Wade 3-5, Calafell 1-3, Brown 1-7, Guntin 0-1, Cole 0-4, McCree 0-6).
Rebounds – Barton 42 (Regan, Chukwudi 10), Coffeyville 20 (Wade 5). Assists – Barton 12 (Stapleton 4), Coffeyville 18 (Wade 6). Steals – Barton 4 (White 3), Coffeyville 8 (McCree 6). Blocks – Barton 9 (Chukwudi 5), Coffeyville 3 (3 with 1).
Turnovers – Barton 25, Coffeyville 10. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – None.
