For three quarters the Barton women’s basketball team had a good chance to earn a Jayhawk Conference road win. Then came the final period.
Barton was outscored by 14 points the final 10 minutes and came up short Wednesday night in Concordia. Cloud County rode that big final period to a 67-52 win over Barton at Arley Bryant Gymnasium.
The loss drops Barton to 3-8 in Jayhawk play and an even 11-11 overall this season. Cloud is 6-5 in the conference and 14-8 overall. The Cougars are currently 11th in the conference with eight more games to play.
Cloud took an early lead in the game but following a 15-0 run by Barton the Cougars took a 22-19 lead early in the second quarter. From there the lead began changing hands and the teams went to half time at 28-all.
The teams continued to trade the lead through the third period with Cloud edging out front 42-41 after three periods of action.
It didn’t take the Thunderbirds long to gain control in the final period. Cloud opened on a 7-1 run to snag a 49-42 lead 1:30 into the final period.
Another 5-0 run pushed it to 54-43 and eventually 59-45 to put the game out of reach with just more than three minutes to play. The Cougars didn’t score a field goal in the final quarter until just more than one minute remained. Overall, Barton went 12 minutes without a field through the end of the third quarter and most of the final period.
Kilee Harris led Barton with 22 points to go with nine rebounds. Dominique Baker added 12 points. Megan Jirak paced Barton with 11 rebounds. The Cougars hit just 14-of-65 from the field for 22 percent.
Cloud put five in double figures, led by Chelcie Kizart with 17, Kaley Broeckelman with 15 and Gabrielle Figgers with 14. Those three combined to hit 11-of-23 3-pointers.
Things won’t get any easier for the Cougars Saturday. Jayhawk Conference leader Hutchinson will pay a visit to the Barton Gym. The Blue Dragons are tied with Garden City at 10-1 in the conference and are 20-1 overall this season. Hutch is ranked No. 8 in the nation with its only loss on the season at Coffeyville back in early December, 62-58.