For three quarters the Barton women’s basketball team was within striking distance of the 17th ranked team in the country.
Unfortunately the game is four quarters. And in that fourth quarter No. 17 Cowley, namely Amy O’Neil, blew open a close game for an 18-point win at the Barton Gym.
Cowley won the Jayhawk Conference tilt 82-64 thanks to that big fourth quarter. Barton is now 2-3 in the conference after dropping a pair of games to ranked team during the week. The Cougars are 5-4 overall.
Cowley remained one game back of the Jayhawk lead at 5-1 and 8-1.
Barton stayed in the contest through three quarters. The Cougars jumped to an 8-0 lead to start the game but Cowley responded and held a 15-13 lead after one quarter.
Barton would not lead again but didn’t let the Tigers out of its sight. The lead did get to nine late in the second quarter and as high as 14 in the third quarter.
But the Cougars finished that third quarter strong. Down 50-36, Regan Unruh got Barton going with a 3-pointer midway through the quarter. Katrina Roenfeldt sandwiched another three around a jumper by Micaela Jellison and an 8-0 run had the Cougars back within 50-44.
The quarter ended with Cowley leading 54-48. Barton closed that to 54-50 on a Baylee Robinson jumper to open the final period.
At that point O’Neil took over the game. A 3-pointer, layup and another three made it 62-50. That would be the beginning of a 21-point quarter for the sophomore from Australia as the Tigers pulled away.
O’Neil finished the game with 47 points including an impressive 14-of-15 from the free throw line.
Robinson led Barton with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Roenfeldt finished with a double-double as well with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
A big contributor to the loss was the 27 turnovers of the Cougars that turned into 32 points for Cowley.
Next up for Barton is a trip to Iola to take on Allen County Wednesday. The Cougars will look to end their 3-game slide against Allen County. The Red Devils are 3-1 in the conference and 4-4 overall.

Cowley 82, Barton 64
Cowley 15 21 18 28 82
Barton 13 16 19 16 64
Cowley (82)
O’Neil 14-23 14-15 47, Mimmo 1-6 6-6 8, Espensen 3-6 1-1 9, Pope 0-4 0-0 0, Schwab 2-3 0-0 4, Holloway 0-3 0-0 0, Potter 4-8 0-0 11, Green 1-2 1-4 3, Kiswamu 0-0 0-0 0, Arnadottir 0-0 0-0 0, Moya 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 25-55 22-26 82.
Barton (64)
Bryson 3-5 0-0 6, Roenfeldt 4-10 2-2 14, Jirak 4-9 1-2 9, Unruh 3-9 0-0 8, Robinson 7-14 3-4 17, Jellison 1-5 4-8 6, Chagas 2-4 0-0 4, Welsch 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 0-2 0-0 0, Walford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals – 24-58 10-16 64.
3-pointers Cowley 10-23 (O’Neil 5-11, Potter 3-6, Espensen 2-4, Pope 0-2); Barton 6-18 (Roenfeldt 4-9, Unruh 2-5, Jirak 0-2, Chagas 0-1, Jellison 0-1).
Rebounds – Cowley 32 (Schwab 7); Barton 37 (Robinson, Roenfeldt 12). Assists – Cowley 14 (O’Neil, Pope 3); Barton 15 (4 with 3). Steals – Cowley 15 (O’Neil 5); Barton 5 (Roenfeldt 3). Blocks – Cowley 2 (Green 2); Barton 1 (Welsch).
Turnovers – Cowley 16, Barton 27. Fouled Out – Unruh, Barton. Technicals – O’Neil, Cowley.