GREAT BEND, Kan. (BartonSports.com) – A pair of potential game winners missed their mark Saturday afternoon for the Barton Community College women’s basketball team as the Cougars fell in overtime 71-69 hosting Coffeyville Community College.
Barton drops to 4-8 in KJCCC play and 8-10 overall while Coffeyville, receiving votes in the latest national poll, notches their fourth straight win improving to a league third best 9-3 and 14-3 on the season.
Next up is a Wednesday trip to Hutchinson to start the second trip around the league slate, facing a hungry top ranked Blue Dragon squad coming off a 67-41 loss at 3rd ranked Dodge City that snapped the program’s 54-game win streak. Tip-off time slated for 5:30 p.m. at the Sports Arena.
The Cougars led by as many as eleven in the opening twenty minutes, pushing a seven-point first quarter advantage out to their largest with 5:52 in the second before going to the halftime locker room with a nine point, 36-27 advantage.
Coffeyville erased the deficit in the third quarter as foul problems began to mount for Barton while shooting just 23.5% in the frame as the teams headed to the fourth tied at 45.
The Red Ravens grabbed their first lead a minute into the quarter on a three-pointer in what would be a seesaw final nine minutes with each team momentarily having a two-possession lead, Barton obtaining theirs with 1:11 left on Brittany Simpson‘s three-pointer making it 60-56.
Coffeyville scored the final four points of regulation, tying it up with fourteen seconds on a pair of free throws. Following a timeout to advance the ball to mid-court, Regina Donanu split the defense dishing to Alaina Eck crashing in from the baseline, but the freshman’s potential game winner missed its mark.
Overtime again produced trading leads including exchanging three-point blows in the final eighty seconds, Donanu knocking down a big game tying arc buster with twenty-one ticks remaining.
Coffeyville answered on their end, working the ball around for an eventual game winner in the paint. Following Barton’s timeout advancing the ball with five seconds left, Donanu’s 10-foot runner rimmed out but Vivian Onugha‘s 11th offensive rebound went for naught in not having enough time for a shot before the horn sounded.
Donanu led the Cougars with a career high 24 points, draining 4-of-9 behind the arc, grabbing 6 rebounds with a trio of assists and steals.
Onugha was saddled with foul problems, picking up her fourth foul and sent to the bench with 7:31 to go in the third quarter aiding in the Red Ravens’ 18-9 frame in tying it up. Entering back for the fourth quarter and staying on the floor for the rest of the contest, the reigning KJCCC and NJCAA Player of the Week finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds in recording her eighth straight and 15th double-double of the season.
Returning from a two-game injury absence, Eck came off the bench for 13 points, 8 rebounds, and tied Donanu with a team high 3 steals.
Simpson’s 6 and Getrude Mapiye‘s 5 helped Barton to a plus-3 on the boards but the Red Ravens had a sizable 14-point advantage in the paint.
Four Red Ravens reached double figures, led by Norika Welch’s 14 points and 9 rebounds as Karliey Parker’s 2-of-3 behind the arc shooting led to a 13 point outing.
Karys Washington led the rebounding with 14 boards while adding 12 points for the double-double effort and dished out a game high 5 assists. Aubrey Hinshaw rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points.
