CHANUTE — Barton did its part. Coffeyville, or more precisely, Cowley did its part.
But the coin didn’t do its part.
The Barton women’s basketball needed a win at Neosho Monday night and a Coffeyville loss in order to have a chance for a home playoff game Thursday night.
Barton wasted very little time in putting away Neosho, building a 21-point lead after the first quarter and rolling to an 87-62 road win.
Coffeyville, meanwhile, battled Cowley close early, but the Tigers were too much for the Red Ravens, pulling away in the second quarter and winning 66-56.
With those two results in the books, both Barton and Coffeyville stood at 13-13 in the Jayhawk Conference. Tied for eighth place and a first round match up against each other.
But the question became where would that game be held.
No tie-breaker could break the tie. The two teams split games against each other and had the exact same head-to-head records against the other 12 teams in the league.
That meant a coin flip. Within minutes of the completion of the game, the coin was flipped. Barton lost.
That means Barton is headed back to southeast Kansas. The Cougars will take on the Red Ravens Thursday. Game time is TBA.
The winner of that game will get the No. 1 seed, Seward County, Monday at Hartman Arena in Wichita.
The win was the third straight for Barton. That is the longest winning streak of the season as the Cougars head into the post season.
“We are playing pretty well,” Coach Alan Clark. “Our guards have really been playing well. If we can get some production from our girls inside, we have a chance to go to Coffeyville and come back with a win.”
Micaela Jellison got the Cougars going with a pair of transition baskets in the opening minutes. Taylor Regan added a couple more hoops and the Cougars had jumped to an 8-0 lead just three minutes into the contest.
Barton would never trail.
Mallory Miller knocked down a trey to push the lead into double figures at 22-10 with just more than two minutes left in the first quarter.
The onslaught continued. When Jaylin Stapleton hit a fast-break layup, it was 28-10 in the final minute of the opening period. Stapleton, all 5-5 of her, grabbed an offensive rebound, scored a field and hit a free throw in the final seconds to cap a 14-0 run to end the first quarter. At the end of the first 10 minutes, Barton led 31-10. Game over.
Well, almost.
Neosho came out to start the second quarter knocking down shots while Barton struggled to score. To the tune of a 13-2 run in the first six minutes for the Panthers, cutting the lead to 33-23, forcing the Cougars to use a timeout.
The Panthers hung around the final four minutes as Barton went to half on top 40-29.
Barton quickly pushed that lead to 15 in the opening minute of third quarter. The lead grew to 17 when Miller knocked down a trey with 6:30 to play in the third, giving Barton a 51-34 lead.
Barton got the lead back to 20, 56-36, on a Stapleton driving layup. The Cougars took their biggest lead of the game when Stapleton found Miller for a fast-break 3-pointer and a 59-36 lead halfway through the third.
And, once again, the rout was on. This time it didn’t stop. By the end of the third, the Cougars led 69-43.
Barton is now 24-0 all-time against Neosho.
Stapleton had another big game for the Cougars. The freshman point guard from Meade topped the 20-point mark for the fourth time and hit double figures for the 23rd time. She ended with 21 to lead Barton to go with seven rebounds and seven assists.
She was from the only Cougar to have a big game. Jellison finished with her second double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Regan added 19 points and eight rebounds while Miller went 5-of-7 on 3’s for 16 points.
Now its back on the road Thursday, where the Cougars are now 4-9 but have won 3 of its last 5 away from the Barton Gym. Barton just beat Coffeyville Saturday at the Barton Gym, 65-48.
Barton 87, Neosho 62
Barton 31 9 29 18 – 87
Neosho 10 19 14 19 – 62
Barton (13-13, 16-14) 87
Stapleton 6-9 8-11 21, Regan 6-10 6-10 19, Jellison 6-13 4-4 16, Miller 5-10 1-2 16, Chukwudi 1-4 2-2 4, White 2-3 0-2 5, Ndao 2-5 0-2 4, Dirks 0-3 2-2 2, Dolinksy 0-2 0-0 0, Dixon 0-0 0-0 0, Cirvian 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 28-59 23-35 87.
Neosho (4-22, 7-23) 62
Plank 3-6 0-0 8, Hartford 1-2 0-0 2, Lyles 1-8 0-0 3, Hawkins 4-12 2-2 13, Jones 0-2 2-4 2, Smith 2-3 0-0 5, Watts 1-9 6-6 8, Foster 0-1 0-0 0, McCall 1-3 0-2 2, Jones 1-3 0-0 2, Casher 0-4 6-8 6, Augustin 2-7 1-2 5, Wattman 1-2 0-0 2, Boyd 1-2 2-2 4, Sibert 0-1 0-0 0, Birch 0-3 0-2 0. Totals –- 16-68 19-28 62.
3-pointers – B 8-11 (Miller 5-7, Stapleton 1-1, Regan 1-1, White 1-1, Dirks 0-1); N 7-25 (Hawkins 3-9, Plank 2-5, Smith 1-1, Lyles 1-4, Foster 0-1, McCall 0-1, Watts 0-2, Augustin 0-2). Rebounds – B 46 (Jellison 11), N 39 (Casher 7). Assists – Barton 16 (Stapleton 7), N 8 (Augustin 2, Smith 2). Steals – B 6 (Miller 3), N 7 (Augustin 3). Blocks – B 2 (Jellison, Dolinsky), N 2 (Foster, Augustin).
Turnovers – B 17, N 14.
JAYHAWK WOMEN’S PLAYOFFS
THURSDAY, HOME SITES
Barton 16-14 at Coffeyville 15-15
Allen 7-23 at Butler 20-9
Neosho 7-23 at Cowley 24-6
Colby 5-25 at Independence 23-6
Dodge City 11-18 at Cloud 19-10
Northwest Tech 20-10 at Garden City 19-11
Pratt 3-26 at Hutchinson 25-5
MONDAY QUARTERFINALS
HARTMAN ARENA PARK CITY
Seward 27-3 vs. Barton-Coffeyville winner
JAYHAWK CONFERENCE WOMEN
Seward County 23-3 27-3
Hutchinson 21-5 25-5
Independence 21-5 23-6
Cowley 20-6 24-6
Butler 17-9 20-9
Cloud County 16-10 19-10
Garden City 16-10 19-11
Barton 13-13 16-14
Coffeyville 13-13 15-15
Dodge City 8-18 11-18
Allen County 5-21 7-23
Neosho County 4-22 7-23
Colby 3-23 5-25
Pratt 2-24 3-26
MONDAY
Allen 74, Pratt 55
Barton 87, Neosho 62
Butler 105, Colby 56
Cowley 66, Coffeyville 56
Hutchinson 50, Dodge City 35
Independence 74, Cloud 56
Seward 75, Garden City 53
