CHANUTE – After slugging out a couple of wins in the 50’s, the Barton women’s basketball team was back to its high octane offensive Monday night.

The Cougars wrapped up the first semester of Jayhawk Conference play with an impressive offensive performance in a 105-97 win over Neosho County.

The Cougars have now won three straight and are 3-1 in the Jayhawk and 9-2 overall. Neosho is 1-3 and 4-10.

How much more offensive was this game than the previous two?

Barton had nearly as many points at half (52) and it the previous two games final total (53 and 54). The 105 points was just two short of the 107 combined in the two previous games.

“We knew it was going to be a high-scoring game,” Coach Alan Clark said. “We are more comfortable with this style. We won those games in the 50’s but we like to play at a faster pace.”

It was a crazy first quarter as each team had 11-0 runs and Neosho added an 8-0 run.

The Panthers took a 13-2 lead early after its 11-0 run. At that point – about three minutes into the game – Coach Clark had already played 10 players looking to change the momentum.

Barton answered back with an 11-0 run to take 20-15 lead as Mallory Miller knocked three 3-pointers in the opening quarter on her way to a season-high 33 points.

But an 8-0 Neosho run gave the Panthers a 23-20 lead before the crazy quarter ended with Neosho up 23-22.

Barton slowly took control of the game in the second quarter with starting point guard Jaylin Stapleton and backup point guard Conner Keith both sitting the entire period with foul trouble.

The lead reached 10 at 48-38 after back-to-back buckets from 6-2 sophomore Fatou Ndao with two minutes left in the half. Ndao scored Barton’s final 10 points of the half as the Cougars led at intermission 52-45.

The second half started much like the first as Neosho opened on a 10-0 run take a 55-52 lead.

And much like that early first half run, it was a Miller 3-pointer that ended it. And, like the opening half, Barton had a run of its own. This time a 7-0 run gave Barton a 66-63 lead midway through the period.

The quarter ended on another Miller 3-pointer – her fifth of the game – as she scored the final five points of the period to give Barton 77-71 lead after three.

Barton got the lead to 83-74 on a Stapleton 3-pointer early in the fourth.

But the Panthers had another run in them. The Panthers knocked down three straight 3-pointers to cut the lead to 88-85 with just under three minutes to play. A fourth 3 made it 90-88 with two minutes to play.

But a Regan layup followed by a technical on Neosho Coach JJ Davis after an offensive foul on the Panthers thwarted the run.

Miller hit both free throws to give Barton a 94-88 lead with 1:51 left. Miller followed with her sixth trey as Barton got possession as well to make it a 97-88 game.

Miller put the Cougars at the century mark with a free throw for a 100-92 lead with 57 seconds to play.

From there, Barton hit 5-of-8 charity tosses down the stretch to secure the win.

The win kept Barton perfect all-time against Neosho at 23-0.

Miller led Barton with those 33 points, going 6-of-10 on 3-pointers. That was one short of her career high of 34 at Colby last season.

“Mallory didn’t just score, she did a lot of other things as well,” Coach Clark said. “She had one turnover, six rebounds, four assists and played great defense in the second half.”

Regan had a big game as well with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Stapleton, Ndao and Irene Chukwudi all finished with 10 points. Kolby Davis came off the bench to score 10 points and grab nine rebounds and hand out seven assists.

Chrissy Brown scored 24 and Kelcey Hinz 20 to lead Neosho.

Barton will take part in the Blue Dragon Holiday Classic at the end of the month before jumping back into conference play in January. Barton will play Ellsworth Community College at 4 p.m. Dec. 28 then take on Iowa Western at 1 p.m. on Dec. 29.

Barton 105, Neosho 97

Barton     22  30  25  28 – 105

Neosho   23  22  26  26 – 97

Barton (9-2, 3-1) 105

White 0-3 1-2 1, Stapleton 3-5 3-6 10, Regan 5-11 6-10 16, Miller 10-19 7-8 33, Chukwudi 4-12 2-2 10, Turney 1-8 5-7 8, Hunt 0-0 0-0 0, Talbott 0-0 1-2 1, Keith 1-3 0-0 3, Ndao 5-5 0-0 10, Dirks 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 3-5 1-2 7, Nichols 2-5 2-4 6. Totals – 34-76 28-43 105.

Neosho (4-10, 1-3) 97

Casher 2-2 4-5 8, Brown 8-20 6-6 24, Stiger 0-1 0-2 0, Augstin 4-14 0-0 11, Hinz 7-16 3-4 20, Chiles 0-0 1-2 1, Stewart 2-4 0-0 4, J Jones 4-8 0-0 12, I Jones 1-5 2-4 5, Bolen 0-2 0-0 0, Bolen 0-2 0-0 0, Richards 2-8 0-0 6, Birch 2-5 2-2 6, Dillinger 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 32-85 18-25 97.

3-pointers – Barton 9-24 (Miller 6-10 Stapleton 1-2, Keith 1-3, Turney 1-5, Regan 0-1, White 0-3), Neosho 15-41 (J Jones 4-8, Hinz 3-8, Augustin 3-12, Richards 2-4, Brown 2-5, I Jones1-2, Bolen 0-2).

Rebounds – Barton 49 (Regan 14), Neosho 49 (Casher 10). Assists – Barton 24 (Davis 7), Neosho 20 (Casher, Augustin 7). Steals – Barton 2 (2 with 1), Neosho 6 (Hinz 3). Blocks – Barton 0, Neosho 3 (3 with 1).

Turnovers – Barton 21, Neosho 16. Fouled Out – J Jones, Neosho. Technicals – Coach Davis, Neosho.