GOODLAND — Freshman guard Brandy Winbush gave the Barton Community College offense a jolt in the second half to lead the Lady Cougars.
Barton scored 44 points in the final half to beat Northwest Kansas Tech 70-45 on Sunday.
“I thought we played really well in spurts,” Barton head coach Carter Kruger said. “At times, we were playing well and paying attention to detail. Other times, you could clearly tell that we weren’t.”
At halftime, Barton led the Lady Mavericks 26-25.
Winbush’s career-high 14 points in 13 minutes played in the second half helped the Lady Cougars pull away.
“Brandy came off the bench in the second half and hit two 3-pointers in a matter of about 45 seconds,” Kruger said. “She was definitely a catalyst for our offense.
“In the first half, we were very uninspired, but she helped turn that around.”
Winbush tore her anterior cruciate ligament during her senior year at Germantown High School in Cordova, Tenn.
“She’s had some limited minutes with us so far this season,” Kruger said. “She tore her ACL last year, and when she came to campus, she had two months of rehab left before she was cleared to practice.”
Ta’Kerra Williams finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, and Taschell Phillips added 10 points.
“They both had solid games,” Kruger said of the two sophomores. “Ta’Kerra had a great game. She really did well rebounding the ball.
“If you cut out Taschell’s turnovers, she had a great game, too.”
Phillips had seven of Barton’s 28 turnovers.
The Lady Cougars improve to 10-3 heading into the holiday break. They start back up on Saturday, Jan. 5, when they travel to Liberal to challenge Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Western Division foe Seward County.
“We hope it’s something that we can build on heading into the conference season,” Kruger said of the win. “We’re hoping we can take our second half into the next game.
“Right now, we hope the girls get home and recharge their batteries. Then they can come back ready to go.”

                                                                         — Kevin Price

JUCO BASKETBALL
Non-Conference

WOMEN

Sunday

At Goodland

Barton Community College 70,
NW Kansas Tech 45
BARTON (10-3)
    Brandy Winbush 4-7 4-4 14, Ta’Kerra Williams 3-5 5-6 11, Taschell Phillips 5-7 0-0 10, Taylor Mayes 4-5 0-0 8, Ashton Bruner 3-12 2-6 8, Blair Bloomfield 2-5 2-2 6, Erin Copeland 2-5 2-2 6, Kelsey Keith 1-1 0-0 3, Kailai Brantner 0-3 2-4 2, Tomiaya Graham 0-1 2-4 2, Jennifer Allende 0-1 0-0 0, Jackie Bueno 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-53 19-28 70.
NW KS TECHNICAL (1-15)
    Shannon Watts 8-24 0-0 18, Shaletha Mayberry 4-14 0-0 9, Mayisha Marlowe 2-7 1-2 5, Ya’Maya Leonard 2-7 0-0 4, Biag Meyek 2-4 0-0 4, Anya Boyd 1-1 0-0 3, Alicia Wynne 1-2 0-2 2, Andrea Zaragoza 0-1 0-0 0, Allistar Lopez 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-60 1-4 45.
    Halftime — Baront 26, NW KS Technical 25. Three-point goals — Barton 3-8 (Winbush 2-3, Keith 1-1, Bloomfield 0-2, Copeland 0-1, Allende 0-1); NW KS Technical 4-17 (Watts 2-10, Mayberry 1-2, Boyd 1-1, Marlowe 0-4). Rebounds — Barton 52 (Bruner 8, Williams 8), NW KS Technical 23 (Leonard 5). Assists — Barton 15 (Brantner 6); NW KS Technical 10 (Boyd 4). Turnovers — Barton 28; NW KS Technical 24. Total fouls — NW KS Technical 18, Barton 10.