It was not a weekend to remember for the Barton women’s basketball team. In fact, for the most part it was a weekend to forget.
The Cougars dropped a pair of games at the Booster Club Classic on its home floor. Barton lost a close contest Friday, falling 71-69 to Howard. Things weren’t as close Saturday as Labette pulled away for a double digit win, 72-60.
Barton is now 3-3 on the season with Jayhawk play set to start up Wednesday.
“Labette is pretty good and when they shoot the ball like that, there isn’t much we can do,” Coach Alan Clark said. “We guarded them pretty good for a while but we started missing switches and they hit shots.”
The Cougars played Labette, the No. 5 ranked team in NJCAA DII, without the services of freshman point guard Morgan Meyers.
Meyers is second on the team in scoring through her first five games in a Barton uniform at 11.8 per outing.
“We did miss Morgan. But we just have to get better in all aspects of the game. I’m frustrated but we just need to keep plugging away and get better.”
Meyers suffered a sprained ankle Friday against Howard and did not suit up Saturday. Her status for the conference opener is very much up in the air as well.
Barton hung around with the Cardinals for a while but were not able to keep up in the second half.
Barton led much of the first quarter and still led 27-26 with just a little more than three minutes left in the half. But Labette closed out those three minutes on a 12-5 run for a 38-32 halftime lead.
The Cougars had the lead down to 43-41 midway through the third quarter but once again Labette closed strong. The Cardinals finished on a 15-6 run to go into the final period on top 58-47.
Mikaela Hall led Barton with 15 points to go along with five rebounds. Brennan Kirchhoff scored double figures in both games over the weekend as the sophomore from Thunder Ridge tossed in 11 points, snagged five rebounds and handed out three assists.
Cora Anderson added 10 points and three assists.
Friday, Barton struggled to stop Howard in the first period, took the lead in the second period then lost it again in the final period and weren’t able to get the win in the final stages.
Howard put up 27 points in the first quarter, hitting 10-of-18 from the field and 4-of-9 on 3’s to build a 27-16 lead.
Barton shut down Howard in the second period, outscoring the Hawks 19-6 in the period to grab a 35-33 lead to intermission. The Cougars limited Howard to just 3-of-16 shooting with no 3-pointers.
Barton started the third period on a 10-2 run to build a 45-35 lead. Howard answered back with a 13-2 run of its own. The game was tight the rest of the way.
Trailing by four late in the contest, Kirchhoff hit a 3-pointer to make it a 70-69 game with six seconds to play. After a foul, Howard hit just 1-of-2 free throws and with a timeout, Barton had the ball at midcourt, down 71-69 and still 3.4 seconds to play.
The Cougars got the ball to Lili Shubert for a game-tying effort from about 15 feet out but the attempt bounded off and the buzzer sounded.
Kirchhoff led the Cougars with 14 points, hitting 3-of-5 treys. Acorianna Lard added 13 while Dayjsha Fanning had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Focus will turn to Jayhawk Conference play as Barton opens the 24-game slate with a home contest Wednesday night against Garden City. Tip is set for 5:30 pm.
Labette 72, Barton 60
Labette 20 18 20 14 -- 72
Barton 18 14 15 13 -- 60
Labette 1-1 (72)
Robinson 7-17 0-0 18, Young 5-9 0-0 15, Faison 1-1 0-0 2, Wilson 7-13 0-0 17, Joseph 1-1 1-2 3, Daniels 1-2 0-0 2, Reed 1-5 0-0 3, Hunter 1-6 0-0 2, Edouard 0-0 0-0 0, Lora 3-8 4-4 10. Totals 27-62 5-6 72.
Barton 3-3 (60)
Kirchhoff 4-9 0-2 11, Fanning 2-6 0-0 4, Womsi 2-5 2-2 6, Hall 7-19 1-2 15, Anderson 4-9 2-4 10, Shubert 3-6 0-0 8, Lard 0-4 1-2 1, Rumford 0-0 0-0 0, Bertoni 1-2 2-2 4, Heskamp 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 8-14 60.
3-pointers -- Labette 13-24 (Young 5-7, Robinson 4-5, Wilson 3-8, Reed 1-3, Daniels 0-1). Barton 6-14 (Kirchhoff 3-6, Shubert 2-5, Bertoni 1-1, Lard 0-1, Heskamp 0-1).
Rebounds - Labette 33 (Hunter 10), Barton 42 (Kirchhoff 5, Fanning 5, Hall 5); Assists - Labette 13 (Robinson 6), Barton 15 (Kirchhoff 3, Fanning 3, Anderson 3). Steals - Labette 8 (Robinson 2, Reed 2), Barton 4 (Fanning 2). Blocks - Labette 3 (3 with 1), Barton 2 (Anderson, Lard).
Turnovers - Labette 14, Barton 17; Fouled out - None. Technicals - None.
Howard 71, Barton 69
Howard 27 6 16 22 -- 71
Barton 16 19 15 18 -- 69
Howard 3-2 (71)
Robinson 9-18 1-2 23, Marquez 8-17 0-1 21, Travis 2-2 0-0 4, Elder 1-3 3-6 5, Perdomo 4-12 3-4 13, Green 2-3 1-2 5, Cotto 0-0 0-0 0, Tijerina 0-0 0-0 0, Oakley 0-1 0-0 0, A Jones 0-1 0-0 0, J Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-58 5-15 71.
Barton 3-2 (69)
Kirchhoff 5-9 1-1 14, Fanning 5-16 2-2 12, Meyers 2-10 2-3 7, Womsi 2-2 0-0 4, Hall 2-2 0-1 4, Shubert 1-5 0-0 2, Lard 5-14 1-5 13, Rumford 0-4 0-0 0, Bertoni 0-0 0-0 0, Heskamp 1-4 0-0 3, Anderson 4-8 1-2 9. Totals 27-74 7-14 69.
3-pointers -- Howard 11-25 (Marquez 5-9, Robinson 4-6, Perdomo 2-8, Oakley 0-1, A Jones 0-1). Barton 8-24 (Kirchhoff 3-5, Lard 2-6, Shubert 1-2, Heskamp 1-3 Meyers 1-6).
Rebounds - Howard 27 (Robinson 8), Barton 54 (Fanning 10); Assists - Howard 6 (Marquez 2, Cotto 2), Barton 17 (Lard 6). Steals - Howard 7 (Marquez 2), Barton 6 (Fanning 3). Blocks - Howard 4 (Elder 2), Barton 1 (Bertoni).
Turnovers - Howard 12, Barton 16; Fouled out - None. Technicals - None.
