Never mind that Barton Community College’s Lady Cougars scored only eight points during crunch time on Saturday night at Kirkman Activity Center.
Buoyed by an earlier run, Barton withstood a late comeback bid by Pratt and snapped a seven-game losing streak, beating the Lady Beavers 62-57.
“It’s one that we’ve been working at for a long time,” said Barton head coach Carter Kruger, whose team improved to 13-14 overall and 3-11 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division. “We’ve made progress here and there. It’s tough when you see yourself getting better on a daily basis, but it doesn’t show up on the scoreboard.
“There were some games during our losing streak that I feel like we could have won. They’re getting better and better. Things are going in the right direction.”
Barton sophomore shooting guard Blair Bloomfield torched the Lady Beavers with four 3-pointers and a team-high 15 points. Ashton Bruner added eight of her 10 points in the second half and Taschell Phillips scored all 10 of her points in the first half, where Barton built a 31-29 lead at intermission.
“She was really good tonight,” Kruger said of Bloomfield. “Honestly, we’ve been led by Erin (Copeland) the last eight or nine games and she happened to have an off-night, which is going to happen.
“I’m just pleased that all of the other girls, especially our sophomores, stepped up and did a nice job.”
Trailing 36-34 early in the second half, Barton went ahead on Bloomfield’s 3-pointer, the start of an 18-4 run that gave it a 52-40 lead with 8:52 remaining. Copeland later fed Kailai Brantner, who made a backdoor cut for a layup, and then she hit a basket herself for its 12-point lead with 8:52 remaining.
Barton led 54-43 after Ta’Kerra Williams’ basket with 7:23 left, but then it hit a long lull over the next five minutes, enabling Pratt to go on a 7-2 run to carve the margin to 56-50 with 2:05 remaining.
But the Cougars were able to put the game away after converting 4 of 6 free throws down the stretch.
Pratt (15-13, 4-10) was led by Hayli Jo Smith with a game-high 20 points, including a trio of 3s.
Featuring 12 lead changes, Barton held a 31-29 halftime lead. The momentum see-sawed back and forth from the midpoint in the first half until the break.
Pratt scored six unanswered points for a 25-21 lead with 4:31 left before the half, but then the two teams snapped back into trading baskets.
Williams converted a pair of free throws at the 10:40 mark, giving Barton a 12-11 lead, but Smith answered with a three-point play on the other end, regaining the lead for the Lady Beavers at 14-12.
Barton knotted the score at 14 moments later after Bruner scored in the lane off a Phillips assist. And, the Lady Cougars had a 16-14 lead after Phillips sank two foul shots at the 9:25 mark.
But Smith buried a 3 from the right wing to give the lead back to Pratt at 17-16 with 9:13 left before halftime, setting in motion the numerous lead changes.

GAME NOTES — The Lady Cougars started their five sophomores for the regular-season finale, including Bloomfield, Phillips, Williams, Copeland and Great Bend product Jennifer Allende.


JUNIOR COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference
Western Division

WOMEN

Saturday

At Great Bend
Kirkman Activity Center
LT & Sheila Fleske Court

Barton Community College 64, Pratt 60
PRATT (14-13, 4-10)
     Tatiana Grant 3-8 4-6 10, Maddie Pendry 1-5 2-4 5, Hayli Jo Smith 7-14 3-3 20, Kelsey Strobel 3-8 3-4 10, Elle Stein 0-2 0-1 0, Kari Devlin 0-0 0-0, Aneshia Brooks 0 0-0 0, Samantha Watson 1-2 1-4 3, Ashri Broadwater 2-7 3-5 7, Keosha Parks 1-4 3-4 5. Totals 18-50 19-31 60.
BARTON (13-14, 3-11)
     Jennifer Allende 0-1 0-1 0, Blair Bloomfield 5-12 1-2 15, Taschell Phillips 4-10 2-2 10, Ta’Kerra Williams 2-4 3-6 7, Erin Copeland 2-15 3-3 7, Kailai Brantner 2-5 4-6 8, Jackie Bueno 0-0 0-0 0, Ashton Bruner 3-6 4-7 10, Taylor Mayes 3-3 1-3 7. Totals 21-56 18-29 64.
     Halftime — Barton 31, Pratt 29. Three-point goals — Pratt 5-11 (Smith 3-7, Pendry 1-2, Strobel 1-1, Parks 0-1); Barton 4-13 (Bloomfield 4-6, Copeland 0-4, Phillips 0-2, Allende 0-1). Rebounds — Barton 46 (Bruner 9, Phillips 5); Pratt 36 (Broadwater 8, Strobel 4, Stein 4). Assists — Barton 13 (Copeland 4, Bruner 3); Pratt 8 (Parks 4). Steals — Barton 15 (Copeland 4); Pratt 10 (Smith 3, Strobel 3). Turnovers — Pratt 19, Barton 18. Blocked shots — Barton 5, Pratt 3.