By BRANDON SMITH
Barton Sports Info
An all-around defensive effort at the Power Plant would not be enough Wednesday night as the Barton Community College women's basketball team fell on the road 63-46 to Butler Community College.
Holding the nation's 22nd ranked offense to 17 points below their average, a 4:31 scoreless stretch during a 9-0 Grizzlies run to open the third quarter had the Cougars facing an 18-point deficit with 5:49 to play. Charolette Delisle's bucket and Regina Donanu's personal 5-0 stretch ignited a late comeback closing the stanza on a 15-6 run pulling Barton within single digits, 45-36 at the quarters end.
Delisle's opening bucket to start the final quarter brought the Cougars within seven but one of seven Butler three-pointers rung in on the night and eight costly fourth quarter turnovers all but sealed the game with a late 6-0 run gifting the Grizzlies their largest lead of 19.
Suffering its fifth straight loss and third straight in the series, Barton drops to 0-5 in league play and 4-7 overall while Butler snaps its two game skid improving to 2-2 in conference play and 7-2 on the season.
With three games left on the pre-Christmas break schedule, Barton will host Pratt Community College on Saturday night in a 5:30 p.m. tip before returning on the road for the final two games next Wednesday at Seward County Community College and next Saturday at No. 5 Dodge City Community College.
Barton shot 39.2 percent but faced a 17-point differential stemming from 27 turnovers and Butler's 7-of-19 (36.8%) three point shooting.
Vivian Onugha and Donanu were the lone Cougars in double-figure scoring each adding 14 points apiece.
Onugha posted her seventh double-double of the season behind 14 points and 13 rebounds including six coming on the offensive end to lead Barton to a slight plus-two rebound advantage.
Donanu added her 14 points on 6-of-15 shooting knocking down two of the Cougars' four three-pointers while distributing a game high four assists. Delisle fell just shy of tying her career high with nine points on 4-of-5 shooting and corralling five rebounds.
A trio of Grizzlies reached double figures led by Ashley Singhateh's 15 points and Destiny Smith's 13 points coming off the bench as Butler outscored the Cougars 39-14 in bench production.
Mya Mayberry concluded the double figure scoring for the Grizzlies adding 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting from behind the arc with four assists.