By KEVIN PRICE
kprice@gbtribune.com

The Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team proved too much for a cold-shooting Barton team on Wednesday at Kirkman Activity Center.
The first-place Lady Blue Dragons, who are now 25-2 overall and 12-1 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division, outshot the Cougars to win, 69-45.
Barton falls to 18-10 overall, 10-4 in the West.
“We didn’t knock down shots,” Barton head coach Keith Ferguson said. “I mean, we didn’t hit easy shots. You know our best three 3-point shooters were 1-for-6, 1-for-5 and 0-for-7, in Alisha (Fanshier), Christina (Caddy) and Shea (Shoemaker). You just can’t do that. You can’t do that against Hutch. We had a lot of chances and a lot of open looks. But Hutch is really good and you can’t miss that many shots against Hutch.”
Hutchinson began the game with a 9-0 run that lasted 4 minutes, 45 seconds and saw four different players score points.
Hutch’s opening run was capped by a 3-pointer from Alysse Barlow. Britney Nuzum led the Lady Blue Dragons with nine points in the first half.
In spite of the run, the Cougars played defense well, forcing four of Hutch’s eight first-half turnovers in the opening five minutes of the half.
“They did a good job when they turned it over they got back and guarded,” Ferguson said. “Even when they shot it, they were going to limit our transition and us getting up and driving it. They did a good job. Hutch is the best team in the conference. There’s a reason that they are the best team in the conference. We got outplayed and out-coached.”
But the cold-shooting Cougars were unable to get anything to fall with Caddy missing some layups early and finishing the first half 1 of 6 from the field.
Caddy finished the game 1 for 10 from the field, 6 for 10 from the free-throw line and narrowly missed a double-double, grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring nine points.
“Christina (Caddy) was rushing too many shots,” Ferguson said. “She was looking for her shot too early and wasn’t catching down hill and doing some things. She struggled shooting the ball.”
As a team, the Cougars shot 25 percent from the field in the first half, going 6-for-24, including 3-for-12 from three-point range.
After 20 minutes, Netanya Jackson led the Cougars with seven points and seven rebounds. Jackson finished the game with nine points and 10 rebounds.
“We didn’t get (Jackson) the ball enough in the second half,” Ferguson said. “She was really going after the bigs and making life difficult for them. We didn’t her the ball enough. They did a good job of guarding her early.”
The second half didn’t start any better for the Cougars, who saw Hutch begin with an 11-2 run in the first six minutes. The lone blemish the Cougars could put on the Lady Blue Dragons’ run was a layup from Shea Shoemaker at the 17:18 mark.
The Cougars turned from cold, to frigid, shooting 20 percent from the field in the second half.
Fanshier, who finished the first half with only four points, picked up her game in the second half, driving to the basket and drawing fouls.
Fanshier hit 7 of 11 free throws and scored a team-high 11 points, though she went all night without hitting a 3.
“She didn’t do that until the second half,” Ferguson said of Fanshier’s attacking the rim. “She needs to be doing that in the first half. You can’t have your best shooting guard going 0-for-7.
“She got some wide-open looks, easy kick-out 3s that she should have put down, but we didn’t. The lid didn’t come off the goal for us.”