With two games remaining in the regular season, the Barton Community College women’s basketball team is determined to finish strong.
“We are right on that goal of finishing 4-1 in the last five games,” Barton head coach Darin Spence said. “We’ve been focusing on conditioning, and working on our transition game. Right now, our turnovers are our Achilles’ heel. Each day, we work on that.”
The Lady Cougars travel to Pratt today for a Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division tilt. It begins at 6 p.m. followed by the men’s game.
The two teams met on Jan. 28 in Great Bend, with Pratt winning 53-46.
Pratt scored 21 points off of 18 turnovers and Barton’s leading scorer, Dionne Harris, only played 18 minutes because of foul trouble.
“I don’t know what we did that night,” Spence said. “It was one of those nights where every time we tried harder, we ended up having more trouble.”
Spence also said that his team underestimated Pratt during the first go-around.
“They are a solid team,” Spence said.”They don’t have a lot of conference wins, but they have proven they can play with anyone.
“I think our kids got drawn in by the hype around town that they were, ‘Just Pratt.’ I have been telling them that they can’t underestimate anyone. We watched the game film from that night, and they were a little upset. I hope they go down there with a little chip on their shoulder.”
Harris leads the Lady Cougars with 13 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
“Down the stretch now, we need Dionne to be better,” Spence said. “We need her to stay out of early foul trouble.”
Freshman forward Blair Bloomfield has been stepping up as an offensive threat for Barton. She averages 9.2 points per game.
“She’s a hard worker,” Spence said. “She puts in a lot of work on her own time outside of practice. She’s truly invested in what we’re doing. She’s earned the right to be doing better because of how much work she’s put in.
“You wish that others would take notice of that, and start working harder as well.”
Pratt head coach Stephanie Thompson played for Spence when he coached at Cowley.
“Stephanie played at Cowley for me for two years,” Spence said. “I think she does a great job with Pratt’s program.”
Ann Pauly leads the Lady Beavers with a 14.9 points per game average.