PRATT – Don’t look now but the Barton women’s basketball team is riding its longest winning streak of the year. And the Cougars are doing in during Jayhawk Conference play.

Barton made it three straight wins – the last two on the road – Monday in Pratt with a 61-52 win over the Beavers.

Barton led most of the night at Lesh Sports Arena against team that had been one game better than the Cougars during the trip through the Jayhawk East portion of the schedule.

Barton moved into a tie with Pratt at 5-3 in the Jayhawk West and are now 9-8 overall. Pratt is 11-6 overall. It was just the second home loss for the Beavers. Seward leads the West at 8-0 with Hutchinson second at 7-1.

“We needed this win,” Coach Alan Clark said. “They were a game ahead of us after the East. This was a big road win for us.”

After struggling out of the gates the last few outings, Barton changed some things up on defense.

“We started in a zone,” Coach Clark said. “I wanted to play some zone and felt if we didn’t start in it I probably wouldn’t change to it.

“We struggled some the first quarter but in the second quarter we had the people shooting for them we wanted shooting and we had them shooting the shots we wanted them to shoot.”

During that second period, Barton pretty much won the basketball game.

Barton trailed by six early in the game and were down 13-12 after the first 10 minutes. The second period saw Barton take over. The Cougars held Pratt scoreless the final 7:08 of the period, going on an 11-0 run. That took the Cougar from tied at 17-all to leading 28-17 at half.

That 11-0 proved the difference in the 9-point win.

Barton maintained that lead most of the second half. The biggest lead was 16 points, the latest at 55-39 with 4:27 left. The closest Pratt would get in the second half was seven at the midway point of the third period. Barton led by double figures in the entire fourth quarter until the final minute.

Vanessa Oduah led Barton with 17 points and 10 rebounds as well as five steals from her point guard spot. D’Shonda Hunt added 12 and Hannah Valentine scored 10 off the bench.

Barton’s leading scorer Richelle Turney, fresh off a 32-point effort at Allen County Saturday night, was held to just two points, but Coach Clark had praise for her anyway.

“Richelle probably played her best defensive game of the year,” Coach Clark said.

Barton will look to keep its momentum going with a home date Wednesday against Dodge City. The Conquistadors are one game back of Barton in the West at 4-4 in the Jayhawk and 9-8 overall. Tip is set for 5:30 pm.

Barton 61, Pratt 52

Barton     12  16  16  17 – 61

Pratt        13    4  16  19 – 52

Barton (5-3, 9-8) 61

Turney 1-9 0-0 2, Hunt 4-8 4-5 12, Ulabo 4-8 0-0 9, Oduah 6-18 3-4 17, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Dortland 3-7 1-2 9, Talbott 0-1 0-0 0, Valentine 2-3 5-6 10, Miller 1-4 0-0 2. Totals – 21-58 13-17 61.

Pratt (5-3, 11-6) 52

George 2-8 0-0 4, Mathis 4-5 2-6 11, McElrath 5-14 0-0 12, Alexander 1-3 2-2 4, Douvier 5-12 1-2 14, McCray 1-1 0-0 3, Taylor 0-2 0-0 0, Garrett 0-0 0-0 0, Moss 0-0 0-0 0, Haamid 2-5 0-0 4, Moon 0-6 0-0 0. Totals – 20-56 5-10 52.

3-pointers – Barton 6-25 (Oduah 2-6, Dortland 2-6, Valentine 1-1, Ulabo 1-3, Talbott 0-1, Miller 0-3, Turney 0-5), Pratt 7-30 (Douvier 3-8, McElrath 2-7, McCray 1-1, Mathis 1-2, Taylor 0-1, George 0-2, Haamid 0-2, Alexander 0-2, Moon 0-5).

Rebounds – Barton 30 (Oduah 10), Pratt 32 (Haamid 11). Assists – Barton 6 (Valentine 2), Pratt 10 (George 3, McElrath 3). Steals – Barton 5 (Oduah 5), Pratt 4 (Taylor 2). Blocks – Barton 2 (Hunt, Oduah), Pratt 3 (3 with 1).