Barton women build big lead in holding off Cloud County 77-69 notching Coach Clark's 100th victory #GoBarton

The Barton Community College women's basketball team fought off a valiant Cloud County Community College fourth quarter comeback in holding off for a 77-69 victory Wednesday night at the Barton Gym.

The Cougars outscored Cloud County in each of the first three quarters, building out a 19 point lead with 5:09 remaining in the contest. The T-Birds' next seven possessions were all three-pointers, getting as close as seven with forty seconds left but the Cougars held off the surge sinking 6-of-8 from the stripe down the stretch earning Head Coach Alan Clark's No. 100 victory at the Cougar helm.

The fourth straight series victory improves Barton to 2-4 in conference play and 5-7 overall while Cloud County falls to 2-4 in league and 6-6 on the season.

The Cougars next travel to Pratt Community College on Saturday before wrapping up the fall slate on Monday in hosting No. 14 Butler Community College. Tip-off slated for 5:30 p.m. for both contests.

RECAP
Following Cloud County's scoring the first bucket ten seconds into the contest, Alissa Heskamp's three-ball with 8:14 remaining put the Cougars out in front leading to a 22-15 advantage to conclude the quarter.

Barton's 10-1 stretch in a ninety second span crossing between the quarters pushed the margin to ten following Morgan Meyers' three-pointer just sixteen seconds into the second frame. Cloud County cut the gap to seven five minutes later but the Cougars owned the next three minutes holding the T-Birds scoreless while adding eight straight led by Shubert's four points.

Barton led by thirteen into the third frame, dipping to eight for thirty seconds before Acorionna Lard and Meyers canned consecutive treys shooting the margin back into double digits until late in the fourth quarter.

Brennan Kirchhoff knocked down a pair of treys in the first three minutes of the final frame before getting fouled on another attempt, sinking all three charity tosses giving Barton its largest lead of nineteen points with 5:09 left.

The T-Birds went on a 15-4 spurt to cut into a single digit deficit with 1:45 remaining, knocking down five three pointers in the process with Barton countering with just Lard and Lili Shubert jumpers mixed in. Neither team could find the scoring column for the next sixty seconds before Meyers drained a pair of free throws to push the gap to ten. Following another Cloud County triple, Meyers essentially iced the game making three of four charity tosses for another ten point lead with twenty-seven seconds remaining.

STATS
The Cougars either set or had one of their best shooting nights of the season highlighted by the 10 made three-pointers for the second straight game. Shooting a season high 49.0% overall from the field, Barton connected on a season second best 38.5% (10-26) from beyond the arc and was a solid 17-of-23 (73.9%) from the charity stripe.

Cloud County shook off a 25.5% shooting through the first three quarters in a sizzling 52.6% fourth quarter performance including 8-of-9 from long distance. Overall the T-Birds shot 33.3% from the floor overall but was 47.6% in three-pointers (10-21) to stay in the game.

Despite Barton having a four point edge in the paint, Cloud County made up the difference in second chance points in part to 21 offensive rebounds to have a plus-2 edge on the glass and just the second game all season the Cougars were outrebounded.

Meyers' career high 22 points led all scorers, dished out five assists, and drained four shots beyond the arc and sinking 10-of-12 from the free throw line including 5-of-6 sealing the victory in the final 36 seconds. Kirchhoff tied a career high 7 assists, adding in 15 points by also burying four shots from long range. Shubert reached double figures for the second straight and third time in last four games behind 5-of-7 shooting for 12 points and rejecting two shots. Lard also blocked a pair of T-Bird shots, hauling down a career high 7 rebounds, and added 12 points off the bench behind 50% shooting from the field. Jenny Nkem Womsi also produced a big game in the non-starter role, scoring 11 points and hauling down 10 rebounds in posting her second straight double-double.

Te Araroa Sopoaga led the T-Birds with a double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a team high 3 assists. Shakira Smith buried all four of her three pointers in a 2:30 stretch of the fourth quarter to finish with 12 points off the bench as Makayla Twyman connected for three long range shots on the night to finish with 10 points.