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ROAD CLASH
Lady Cougars challenge Butler in El Dorado
spt kp BCC Bloomfield
Barton Community Colleges Blair Bloomfield (at left) puts up a shot over Garden Citys Nicole Young on Wednesday night at Kirkman Activity Center. - photo by Kevin Price Great Bend Tribune

Against the Garden City Community College women’s basketball team, Barton’s Netanya Jackson stepped up with team-leading 17 points and six rebounds.
On Saturday night at 5:30 in El Dorado, Jackson may need to step up again. This time against a tall Butler team in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division action.
“They’re a big team,” Barton head coach Darin Spence said. “They have some really good athletes. They play solid defense, and they are hungry to get their first conference win. They are going to come out energized.”
Jackson, at 6-foot-4, will have to contend with Butler centers Asia Watson and Tonya Elliott-Salas, who are both 6-4.
Jackson averages 7.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Watson averages 3.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, and Elliott-Salas averages 3.4 points and 2.3 rebounds.
“We think she’ll be a big part of the game,” Spence said of Jackson. “We hope so. They’ve got someone the same size as her and another player who’s just as tall. Her challenge is how many minutes can she play and be productive. It goes back to good conditioning. If she works on that and she gets to playing more productive minutes, she is a going to be a big part of our team down the stretch.”
Jackson played 19 minutes in Wednesday night’s loss to Garden.
Butler, which is 11-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference, is led by Jamilah Bonner.
Bonner averages 15.4 points and 7.8 boards per game. She also leads in steals (51) and assists (19).
Barton’s top scorers are Dionne Harris, who averages 14.3 points per game, and Shea Shoemaker, who averages 10.2.
Harris finished Wednesday’s game with five points and Shoemaker went 0-for-6 from the field.
“We didn’t do much at practice today,” Spence said. “We just shot around a little bit, and watched game film from the Garden game. I think (Harris and Shoemaker) were receptive to what we were saying and what they were seeing. The thing about watching film is you have to know what to look for.
“It all comes down to how you start games. We came out flat in the Seward and Garden games. If that happens, we have to find a way to snap out of it. I anticipate that they will both snap back against Butler.”
Raven Anderson has become a force for Barton (11-6, 1-2), with six steals in three games, as well as making 13 of 16 free throws for 81.25 percent shooting.
Blair Bloomfield averages 8.5 points per game.

Barton softball down Saints
barton softball
LIBERAL — The Barton Cougar softball team swept Seward County 6-4 and 11-4 to solidify second place in the Jayhawk League. Barton (21-9, 15-3 Jayhawk) remains two games back of Hutchinson. Seward drops to 10-20, 4-12 Jayhawk. Barton plays Colby Wednesday and Garden City Saturday in home games. Most of the Cougars' damage came with two-outs producing eight runs, three coming in their first at-bat of the windy afternoon as another three plated in the backend's second frame staking Barton to a comfortable lead. Allyson McDougal and Chloe Enslinger combined for eight of the team's 20 hits. Each went 4-of-8 from the plate. Enslinger drove in a team high six runs including belting her 13th home run of the year clearing the bases loaded in the opening frame of game two. Both Barton pitchers went the complete distance, Meleia Ingram improving to 11-4 allowing six hits with four strikeouts with Brooklynn Angielski scattering seven hits and striking out five improving to 9-4 on the year. COUGARS 6, SAINTS 4 (G1) -- The middle of the lineup collected six of the Cougars' ten hits in the opener, three coming in the opening frame with two outs staking Barton to an early 3-0 lead. Enslinger extended the inning with a single up the middle, Peyton McCormick followed the same path to put two aboard, then each raced home on Elina Bartlett's drive to the outfield resulting in a two-base fielding error. Seward produced runs with two-outs, the first coming in the second on a two-strike single driving in a one-out double before cutting the Barton lead to 3-2 in the third after moving a one-double with a sac bunt getting another two-out base knock. Barton returned the two-out answer in the ensuing fourth, Bartlett's one-out single being joined by Morgan Thatcher getting plunked with two-outs leaving Ava Fink to drive in the run pushing the margin back out to 4-2. The lead was short lived as a one-out walk followed by a Saint homerun tied it up in the home half. McDougal's reach on error opened up the Cougar fifth, followed by Enslinger lacing a one-out single. McCormick completed her game one, two-hit performance with a double off the fence with Bartlett having to settle for a sacrifice fly by being robbed of extra bases from the Saints' Lynnette Hernandez' great running catch deep down the right field line. Ingram held the 6-4 advantage for the final three frames, allowing just one baserunner the rest of the way and sending the Saints down in order twice including on two punchouts in the seventh. COUGARS 11, SAINTS 4 (G2) — Barton loaded the bases in their first three plate appearances, Wood and McDougal base hits followed by Aly Lawrence drawing a walk. Two pitches later, Enslinger's centerfield blast staked the Cougars to the early 4-run lead. Seward cut the deficit in half in their first at-bat as a one-out double and single would cross the dish on a two-bag liner to left center. As they did in game one, the Cougars stayed hot with two-outs in providing a three-run answer in the ensuing second frame. McDougal's double driving in Morgan Thatcher's leadoff walk began the surge, scoring on Lawrence's single who then would speed the bases on Enslinger's two-base knock. After the Saints plated one in the home half on a leadoff hit and one-out single, the teams went silent into the bottom of the fifth as a leadoff walk would score on a one-out double slicing Barton's lead to 7-4. The Cougars also received a leadoff walk to begin its sixth frame, Laney Wood drawing the free pass then swiping second getting into position for McDougal's RBI connection. Following a pair of groundouts, Barton restarted the two-out engine with McCormick drawing a walk with Bartlett driving in two on a double off the fence to then score on Alvord's single. Angielski was rock solid in the Saints' final two frames. Barton 301 200 0 — 6 10 0 Seward 011 200 0 — 4 0 0 Ingram and Enslinger. W—Ingram, 11-4. 2B—BC—McCormick Barton 430 004 0 — 11 10 1 Seward 210 010 0 — 4 0 0 Angielski and Enslinger. W—Angielski, 9-4. 2B—BC—McDougal, Enslinger, Bartlett. HR—BC—Enslinger JAYHAWK WEST Hutchinson 17-1 23-5 Barton 15-3 21-9 Butler 12-4 19-5 Dodge City 11-7 19-17 Garden City 9-7 17-13 Seward 4-12 10-20 Colby 4-12 25-14 Pratt 4-14 7-23 Hays NW 0-16 0-24 3-26—Hutchinson 6-6, Barton 0-2; Butler 8-9, Pratt 0-0; Dodge City 12-10, Seward 3-6; Garden City 10-11, Colby 7-3 3-29—Hutchinson 16-22, Pratt 0-5; Butler 14-18, Hays NW 0-0; Dodge City 14-2, Colby 4-10 3-30—Barton 6-11, Seward 4-4 3-31—Butler at Cowley; Labette at Pratt 4-2—Colby at Barton; Hays NW at Hutchinson; Pratt at Seward; Dodge City at Garden City
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