It was a rough start to the women’s basketball season for Barton Community College.
It was an equally rough start to a head coaching career for Carter Kruger.
The Lady Cougars fell to No. 20-ranked Midland College (Texas) 63-54 on Friday night to open Barton’s Highland Hotel/Pizza Hut Classic at Kirkman Activity Center.
“You know, I’m proud of our kids because of how we competed,” Barton head coach Carter Kruger said. “I can accept the result. If we’d gone out and went into the tank and quit on some things, I wouldn’t feel so good.
“I don’t believe in moral victories, but this was kind of a moral victory for us.”
Trailing early, Barton tied the game 45-45 on an 8-1 run with 12:40 remaining in the game.
Kelsey Keith dropped in a 3-pointer, Jackie Bueno scored two points and Blair Bloomfield dropped in a 3.
Over the next six minutes, the Lady Chaparrals built back a lead as Barton went cold.
After both teams scored two points, Midland went on an 8-0 run.
“They really took away Blair, who was our leading scorer in the game and is going to be one those types of kids for us every night,” Kruger said. “They really kept her from getting going.
“We’ve got to get better learning how to beat that pressure defense.”
Bloomfield finished 4-for-6 from 3-point range, scoring a team-leading 14 points. She also tied with Ta’Kerra Williams with seven rebounds.
“Our pick-and-pop was really working for us,” Bloomfield said, “where we screen and kick the ball back out. I’ve been really working on my 3s. I’m not a great driver, but I shoot the ball well, so I’ve been working on that.
“I think we did a better job blocking out in the second half, so that led to more rebounds.”
A 6-2 run in the final three minutes of the game closed the gap to 58-54, but Midland’s Meghan Braeuer made her free throws down the stretch to finish with a game-high 15 points and give her team a cushion.
Lady Chaparrals sophomore forward Achiri Ade also finished with 15 points.
The Lady Cougars struggled from the free-throw line throughout the night, shooting 23.1 percent (3-for-13).
“You expect yourself to go perfect from the line,” Kruger said. “If we do that, we win by one. If we make 50 percent, we’re probably not fouling at the end of the game, trying to get back into it. We’re tied up.”
Barton appeared to be on a roll coming out of the gate, scoring the first seven points of the game.
Sophomore guard Taschell Phillips put in two points on a jumper, and sophomore forward Williams scored a bucket from the paint to make it 4-0.
Second-year point guard Erin Copeland dropped in a 3-pointer, making it 7-0 Barton.
Midland responded in kind, scoring seven unanswered points to knot the game.
Kruger said the youth on his team led to some of the struggles early on.
“Our kids competed very hard, and they left it out there,” Kruger said. “Now, we were breaking in about seven freshmen tonight, so it was good for them to get some experience against a good opponent like that.”
The Lady Cougars continued to shoot 3-pointers, opting to take a perimeter shot over driving into the paint against the Midland defense that stacked 6-foot-3 center Femke Vaandrager and 6-1 forward Ade between Barton’s guards and the rim.
“We’re going to shoot a lot of 3s until teams start to guard us tight on the perimeter,” Kruger said. “Then we should be able to drive by. Some of our kids didn’t give us those types of things for whatever reason.”
Barton finished 7-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half, keeping the Lady Cougars in the game, finishing behind 39-32 at half.
The Lady Cougars finished 9-for-19 (47.4 percent) from behind the arc.

JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Highland Hotel & Pizza Hut Classic

At Great Bend
Kirkman Activity Center

Friday

WOMEN

Midland College 63, Barton 54  
MIDLAND COLLEGE (1-1)
    Meghan Braeuer 3-7 6-6 15, Daneichka Canales 5-10 2-3 13, Tia Dixon 0-3 0-0 0, Catherine Kruschke 2-7 0-4 4, Achiri Ade 5-12 5-9 15, Gabriela Marins 1-4 0-0 2, Darnetta Jackson 3-6 0-0 7, Curtesha Woods 3-6 2-2 7, Chanelle DiCroce 1-2 0-0 2, Femke Vaandrager 0-0 2-4 2, Diamalises Rivera 0-2 1-4 1. Totals 20-56 18-32 63.
BARTON (0-1)
     Blair Bloomfield 5-9 0-0 14, Taschell Phillips 3-10 0-0 6, Kelsey Keith 2-3 0-0 6, Payton Scheer 2-6 0-0 6, Erin Copeland 2-7 0-1 5, Ashton Bruner 1-6 2-4 4, Ta’Kerra Williams 2-6 0-0 4, Kailai Brantner 2-6 0-0 4, Jackie Bueno 1-3 1-4 3, Taylor Mayes 1-2 0-4 2, Jennifer Allende 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 21-60 3-13 54.
    Halftime — Midland College 39, Barton 33. Three-point goals — Barton 9-19 (Bloomfield 4-6, Scheer 2-4, Keith 2-2, Copeland 1-4, Bruner 0-1, Williams 0-1, Brantner 0-1); Midland College 5-21 (Braeuer 3-6, Canales 1-4, Jackson 1-2, Woods 0-3, Martins 0-3, Kruschke 0-2, Dixon 0-1).

BARTON COMMUNITY COLLEGE

BASKETBALL

HIGHLAND HOTEL/
PIZZA HUT CLASSIC

At Kirkman Activity Center

Saturday

WOMEN
   Cloud County 54, No. 20 Midland College 45
   Barton 78, Coffeyville 67
MEN
   Pratt 73, Fort Scott 68, OT
   Barton 92, Northwest Kansas Tech 90

Friday

WOMEN
   Cloud County 73, Coffeyville 61
   No. 20 Midland College 63, Barton 54
MEN
   Pratt 82, Northwest Kansas Tech 74
   Barton 84, Fort Scott 62