After knocking off unbeaten and Jayhawk Conference co-leader Seward County Tuesday, the Barton women had a chance to do likewise in Arkansas City Saturday night.
This time, though, it wasn’t to be.
Cowley remained unbeaten and atop the conference after a 65-56 win over the Cougars at Scott Auditorium.
Cowley build a double-digit lead in the third period then held on for the win. Cowley is now 5-0 in the Jayhawk and 9-0 overall. The Tigers are tied with Independence on top of the Jayhawk.
Barton is now 3-2 and 6-3.
The first quarter was not pretty offensively. It took Cowley nearly three minutes to score the game’s first points. It took Barton 4 1/2 minutes. At the end of the first period, Barton had a 10-8 lead.
The teams picked up the pace in the second quarter as Mallory Miller began to find her range from the outside. Miller knocked down three treys in the half, the third tying the game at 21-all with 1:12 left in the half. A Kaitlyn Potter trey at the buzzer gave Cowley a 24-21 lead at intermission.
Potter added another trey to start the third period and the Cougars were down six and in catch-up mode. The lead reached eight, 35-27, midway through the period. Cowley kept its run going with a 3-point play by Samantha Schwab to make it 38-27.
The troubles continued for Barton as the Cowley run reached 9-0 and the lead 40-27 before Micaela Jellison finally ended it with a bucket at the 3:15 mark of the third period.
By then, Barton had a big hole to climb out of. A Taylor Regan putback to end the third period began the climb out and cut the Tiger lead to 45-37.
Barton got it down to six, 45-39, to start the fourth period on a Fatou Ndao jumper and eventually to 47-42 on deep 3-pointer from Miller with 8:15 to play in the game.
The Cougars continued to work the lead down. A Regan jumper in the lane made it 51-47 with 6:50 to play. Irene Chukwudi trimmed it to 51-49 with two free throws with 6:25 left. Jellison buried a couple free throws with 5:39 to play and Barton had climbed all the way out of that hole to tie it at 51-all.
Potter would end the 9-0 Barton run with another trey for her 27th point of the night the next trip down the court. Barton would go nearly two minutes without a bucket but two free throws by Jellison kept Barton close at 56-53 with 3:35 to play.
Potter again put a dagger in the Cougars with another trey with 2:30 left to make it 59-53. Barton would not threaten the Tigers the rest of the way.
Stapleton led Barton with 15 points. Miller added 12 on four treys and Jellison 10. Regan led Barton with 12 rebounds. Irene Chukwudi added 11.
Potter, a local Arkansas City High graduate, led the Tigers with 32 – nearly half the Cowley total. She hit 6-of-18 treys in the win. Potter has hit at least four 3’s in all but one game this year.
The Cougars are back at home Wednesday for the final game of November. Barton will host Allen County to close out the month. The Red Devils are 1-4 in the Jayhawk and 3-6 overall. Allen lost 87-57 to Butler Saturday. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Barton Gym.

Cowley 65, Barton 56
Barton 10 11 16 19 – 56
Cowley 8 16 21 20 – 65
Barton (6-3, 3-2) 56
Chagas 0-1 0-0 0, Stapleton 5-13 4-5 15, Regan 4-10 1-2 9, Jellison 2-9 6-6 10, Chukwudi 0-4 2-2 2, Ndao 3-5 1-2 7, Dirks 0-3 1-2 1, Miller 4-11 0-0 12. Totals – 18-46 15-20 65.
Cowley (9-0, 5-0) 65
Hall 1-2 0-0 1, Potter 12-28 2-2 32, Jallow 2-9 0-0 4, Schwab 4-10 1-3 9, Silva 1-6 0-0 2, Addison 3-8 4-6 11, Nygard 1-5 2-2 4, Campbell 0-0 1-2 1, Perez 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 24-68 10-15 65
3-pointers – Barton 5-16 (Miller 4-8, Stapleton 1-5, Jellison 0-1, Dirks 0-2); Cowley 7-27 (Potter 6-18, Addison 1-2, Nygard 0-3, Jallow 0-4).
Rebounds – Barton 40 (Regan 12, Chukwudi 11), Cowley 32 (Schwab 10). Assists – Barton 9 (Stapleton 3), Cowley 13 (Schwab 4). Steals – Barton 3 (3 with 1), Cowley 6 (Potter 3). Blocks – Barton 1 (Chukwudi), Cowley 3 (Silva 2).; Turnovers – Barton 23, Cowley 15. Fouled Out – None. Technicals – None.