It really wasn’t their night.
The Barton Community College Lady Cougars got off to a rough start as Butler ran away with a 74-56 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division win on Saturday night at Kirkman Activity Center.
“At the end of the day, the other team’s going to make some plays,” Barton head coach Carter Kruger said. “We had great expectations of a lot of our players, and we’re getting good looks. We just got to make shots.”
The Lady Grizzlies, which improve to 13-4 overall and 1-2 in the West, got off to a 7-0 run straight out of the gate, leaving Barton to play catch-up for the rest of the game.
Ashlee Ivy hit a 3-pointer to start the game, followed by a pair of pull-up jumpers by Shayla Williams.
Barton (11-6, 1-3), which was led by sophomore guard Erin Copeland’s 14 points, continued to struggle, shooting 28.6 percent (8-for-28) from the field in the first half as Butler got out to a 41-24 lead after 20 minutes.
The Lady Cougars finished 18-for-50 (36 percent) with 27 turnovers.
“I almost just wanted to dribble the shot clock out because then they can’t go score on us,” Kruger said. “It’s a frustrating thing because a lot of them are unforced at times. It’s not doing what we want to do.”
After intermission, the Lady Cougars got layups from Ta’Kerra Williams and Kailai Brantner.
However, Butler’s Jamillah Bonner went on an 8-0 run by herself to swell the lead to 49-28.
Bonner, who is the second-leading scorer in the conference with a 19.7 points-per-game average, left early with an injury to her right leg. She joined Tysia Manual and Williams with 10 points apiece.
Ivy led the Lady Grizzlies with 15 points.
Butler held a 20-point lead throughout the second half.
Barton travels to No. 1-ranked Hutchinson on Wednesday night. The game starts at 5:30 with the men following at 7:30.
“We’ve got to realize that it doesn’t get any easier,” Kruger said. “We’re going to find out a lot about the character of our team because we’re going into Hutch Wednesday night. They just watched us, and they know what we’re going to try to do against the defenses that they’re playing.”

JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community

College Conference
Western Division

WOMEN

Saturday

At Great Bend

Kirkman Activity Center
LT & Sheila Fleske Court

Butler 74, Barton 56
BUTLER (13-4, 1-2)
    Ashlee Ivy 6-10 2-2 15, Tysia Manual 4-7 2-5 10, Jamillah Bonner 5-9 0-0 10, Shayla Williams 5-11 0-0 10, Carly Bettancourt 1-2 7-8 9, Katie Andersen 2-5 0-0 6, Chelsea Hodison 2-6 2-2 6, Aaliyah Rutledge 1-2 3-6 5, Samantha Satterlee 1-4 0-0 2, Bethany Howard 0-3 1-2 1. Totals 27-59 17-25 74.
BARTON (11-6, 1-3)
    Erin Copeland 3-9 6-8 14, Ta’Kerra Williams 5-7 2-6 12, Blair Bloomfield 4-13 0-0 8, Taylor Mayes 2-4 2-4 6, Ashton Bruner 1-2 3-6 5, Kelsey Keith 1-6 2-2 5, Kailai Brantner 1-3 2-2 4, Taschell Phillips 1-5 0-0 2, Jennifer Allende 0-0 0-0 0, Jackie Bueno 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 17-28 56.
    Halftime — Butler 41, Barton 23. Three-point goals — Butler 3-9 (Andersen 2-3, Ivy 1-1, Williams 0-2, Bettancourt 0-1, Satterlee 0-1, Howard 0-1); Barton 3-15 (Copeland 2-4, Keith 1-4, Bloomfield 0-5, Brantner 0-1, Phillips 0-1). Rebounds — Butler 40 (Manual 7); Barton 34 (Bruner 11). Assists — Butler 18 (Bettancourt 7); Barton 9 (Copeland 4). Turnovers — Barton 27, Butler 21. Blocked shots — Butler 5 (Rodison 3); Barton 5 (Williams 3). Total fouls — Butler 21, Barton 21. Fouled out — Butler (None); Barton (Bloomfield). Technical fouls — Butler (Williams).