For the Barton women’s basketball team to pull off the upset Saturday night at the Barton Gym, things were going to have to go nearly perfect.
They didn’t.
The Hutchinson Blue Dragons brought its No. 8 nationally ranking to town and took care of the Barton in pretty easy fashion. Hutchinson won 78-56 in the Jayhawk Conference Homecoming battle.
The loss dropped the Cougars to 3-9 in the conference and 11-12 overall. It is the first time this season Barton dipped below the .500 mark.
Hutchinson, meanwhile, stayed atop the conference with its 11-1 mark. The Blue Dragons are 21-1 on the season. Hutch is tied with Garden City for the top spot.
Barton came out with an early surprise for the Blue Dragons – a triangle-and-two defense. The Cougars limited Hutch to just 12 first quarter points. Barton actually had it to 10-8 when Alexus Bryson capped a 5-0 run with a jumper. Hutch led 12-8 after one.
Barton hung around for the opening five minutes of the second quarter as well. A Jalisa Jones layup capped a quick 4-0 run for Barton to cut the Hutch lead to 19-16 with 4:42 to play.
Then the No. 8 team in the country took over. Hutchinson finished those last four-plus minutes on a 12-0 run to take a commanding 31-16 lead to half as the Blue Dragons pounded the ball into the paint.
It was not a game after that.
Hutch increased its lead to 53-30 after three quarters. In the final period Barton’s defense created some turnover as the Cougars scored 26 in the period but it was much too late as the Blue Dragons coasted home to the win.
Bryson paced Barton with 13 points followed by Kilee Harris with 12 and Dominique Baker with 11. Barton shot just 31 percent in the loss.
Hutchinson showed it’s inside dominance in the contest. The Blue Dragons outrebounded Barton by a 39-22 advantage and outscored the Cougars 36-18 in the paint.
Leading the way was Kierra Rogers with 19 points and nine rebounds. Mandy Madden added 16 points and nine rebounds. In all four Blue Dragons reached double figures. Hutchinson shot 60 percent in the win and made 6-of-8 treys.