Broncbusters hammer Barton; even conference mark

Garden City, KS-Garden City finally got the balanced attacked they've been looking for.  

Antonicia Moultrie scored a game-high 24 points to lead four Broncbuster starters in double figures as Garden City stormed past Barton, 83-58 Saturday afternoon at Conestoga Arena.  

Jolie Mantz finished with 21 points and was 5-of-9 on 3s for the Broncbusters, which improved to 4-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play. Bruna Costa Da Silva tallied 19 points in 37 minutes, and Sierra Driessen had 15 points, 10 assists, and five steals.    

"We had 21 assists, which means we were taking really good shots," Head Coach, Greg Franklin said afterwards. "Before, we were forcing some things; today we took shots in rhythm. We have two elite shooters, and it's only a matter of time before they got going."

Shooting was key, but this game was won on the defensive end. The Broncbusters scored 35 points off 27 Cougar turnovers. And while Barton shot 54 percent from the field, they took 20 less shot attempts than Garden City.  

"You can always control your effort on defense, and I thought for the most part, we played well on that end," Franklin added.  

The Broncbusters never trailed in the game. Costa Da Silva nailed a 3-pointer to cap an early 12-0 run that put Garden City up, 14-2 with 4:30 left in the first. They led 22-9 heading to the second and took a 41-28 edge into the locker room following Driessen's twisting layup in the final seconds of the half. 

"We made several points of emphasis following the Dodge City game," Franklin said. "We gave up way too many second-chance points. And that really comes down to boxing out and grabbing the loose ball. We did a much better job today." 

Barton was limited to just six offensive rebounds and nine second-chance points. 

Meantime, Garden City put the game away in the fourth closing the contest on a 19-5 run. That spurt was highlighted by back-to-back three-point plays by Moultrie and a deep 3-pointer by Mantz. 

The Broncbusters shot 52 percent from the floor, 9-of-18 from deep, and 8-of-8 from the line.  

Vivian Onugha finished with 19 points and 14 rebounds for Barton, which fell to 4-4 overall and 0-2 in league play.