GARDEN CITY — Struggling for a better part of 29-plus minutes, the ebb-and-flow didn’t come to the Barton Community College Lady Cougars on Saturday night until just under 11 minutes remained.
The Lady Cougars, trailing Garden City 37-29 at halftime and 42-33 with 10:51 remaining, finally came alive. They reeled off a 9-0 run to tie the game at 42 at the 8:03 mark after Dionne Harris converted a pair of free throws.
Yet it seemed as though Barton burned all of its energy trying to rally in this Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division outing as Garden held on for a 61-54 victory.
“The two things that haunt us are turnovers and defensive rebounding,” Barton head coach Darin Spence said. “We got better defensive rebounding tonight, but we still had turnovers.
“We lead the league in free-throw percentage and all of sudden, we couldn’t make a free throw. When you’re turning the ball over, you’re not going to get free throws.”
Barton made only 13 of 23 free throws while Garden finished 22 for 39.
In the late going, after both teams traded baskets over the next three minutes, Barton still had a shot. Netanya Jackson’s power move with 4:44 remaining gave it a 48-47 lead, but six straight points by the Lady Broncbusters, capped by Ashley Walker’s 3-pointer, regained them the lead at 53-48.
Barton’s Devan Boeger, who finished with 11 points, knocked down a 3-ball from the right wing with 2:31 remaining, making it 53-51.
But a game-ending 8-3 run sealed the deal for the Lady Busters.
“I’m disappointed for all of us,” Spence said. “We had a chance and it just wasn’t a sharp effort.”
Harris matched Boeger’s point output on the night, while Jasmine Moore led Garden with 17 points and Walker totaled 16.
Garden improves to 15-10, 7-4, and Barton dropped to 15-10, 5-6.
JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community
College Conference
Western Division
At Garden City
Saturday
WOMEN
Garden City 61, Barton 54
BARTON (15-10, 5-6)
Raven Anderson 0-3 0-0 0, Blair Bloomfield 2-6 2-2 8, Netanya Jackson 3-3 2-5 8, Dionne Harris 2-9 7-14 11, Erin Copeland 3-11 2-2 8, Devan Boeger 4-6 0-0 11, Shea Shoemaker 2-7 0-0 6, Crystal Fulton 0-0 0-0 0, Taschell Phillips 1-6 0-0 2, Ta’Kerra Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 13-23 54.
GARDEN CITY (15-10, 7-4)
Jasmine Moore 4-5 7-12 17, Mikayla Skidmore 0-3 2-2 2, Tamara Jones 1-6 1-4 4, Ashley Walker 5-13 4-7 16, Carly Schmale 3-4 0-0 6, Deni Jacobs 0-1 2-2 2, Jasmine Christmas 1-1 2-6 4, Brittany Maxwell 0-1 0-0 0, Breanna Gross 0-0 1-2 1, Breanna Gottschalk 2-3 0-0 6, Nicole Young 0- 3-4 3. Totals 16-40 22-39 61.
Halftime — Garden City 37, Barton 29. Three-point goals — Barton 7-19 (Boeger 3-5, Shoemaker 2-4, Bloomfield 2-3, Copeland 0-5, Phillips 0-1, Harris 0-1); Garden City 7-13 (Walker 2-5, Moore 2-3, Gottschalk 2-2, Jones 1-2, Skidmore 0-1). Rebounds — Barton 38 (Jackson 11, Harris 6); Garden City 34 (Jacobs 6, Skidmore 5, Jones 5). Assists — Barton 13 (Copeland 4); Garden City 12 (Skidmore 5). Turnovers — Barton 19, Garden City 16.
