After Wednesday night’s 65-58 loss to Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division foe Pratt, the Barton women’s basketball team is focusing on improving as a team.
“Our biggest priority is getting back to competing for 40 minutes,” Barton head coach Darin Spence said. “We’re focusing on being good teammates. That’s been our message since Aug. 14. Basketball is the ultimate team sport.
“Everyone has to play offense and defense. You have to be able to play together at high speeds and under the influence of fatigue. You have to be unselfish.”
The Lady Cougars host Cloud County on Saturday night in the final game of the regular season. The game begins at 6 at Kirkman Activity Center.
Barton is squared away in fifth place in the conference standings. Cloud can lock down second place with a win.
“It’s a big game for them,” Spence said. “With a win, they can solidify the second spot. For us, we just need to play the game. We want to make sure that we play well as a team.”
Spence said that while winning the game would be nice, it isn’t exactly the most important thing.
“Any time you play, you want to win,” Spence said, “but the win doesn’t help us get anywhere in the standings. We’re still in the playoffs.
“I see a lot of teams win and camouflage their mistakes. Then they lose at a worse time. I’d rather play better and lose.”
Barton traveled to Concordia on Feb. 1. The Lady Cougars lost 61-57.
“We played well there,” Spence said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win. We had a lead for a long time, but they’re a really good team. They don’t beat themselves. They can score from the inside and the outside.”
Dionne Harris leads Barton with 13.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Cloud County is led by Tera Ingalsbe, who averages 12.9 points per game.