The Barton Community College women's basketball team went toe-to-toe with top-ranked Dodge City Community College for three quarters Wednesday evening at Fleske Fieldhouse, but a burst of fourth-quarter outside shooting proved decisive in a 65-51 loss in the conference opener.
The result moves the Cougars to 2-5 overall, while the Conquistadors remain unblemished at 6-0. Barton shifts its attention to Saturday's 2:00 p.m. road trip to Cloud County Community College before returning home Tuesday to host Colby Community College.
Barton set the early tone, scoring the game's first four points behind baskets from Mary Akinde and Christal Long while holding Dodge City without a field goal for nearly five minutes. The Cougars sustained the momentum with back-to-back Regina Donanu buckets to build out an 8-3 advantage, later moving ahead 11-8 on a Kodi Greer three with 1:18 left. A late Conquistador trey evened the score at 11-11 heading into the second stanza.
Dodge City opened the second quarter with five straight to take a 16-13 lead before Barton responded with four points from Faith Ackerman and consecutive long distance ringing's from Donanu and Greer to reclaim a 26-20 edge. Turnovers proved costly late in the second stanza, as the Conquistadors closed the half on an 11-2 surge to hold a 31-28 halftime advantage.
The Cougars chipped back within one to open the third on a Donanu jumper, but an 8-0 Dodge City answer quickly stretched the deficit to 39-30 with 6:02 to play. Barton narrowed the deficit back to within 39-36 just past the midway point of the quarter on a Donanu and Greer 5-0 run, but Dodge City countered again with a 5-0 stretch before four straight charity tosses by Keyona Hall trimmed the margin to 44-40 at the quarters end.
The fourth quarter shifted early as the Conquistadors used two quick layups and first of their three fourth frame triples to push the lead to 51-40, later extended to 54-40 on another three pointer. Baskets from Donanu and Akinde kept Barton within striking distance, but a late perimeter push stretched the deficit to 63-47, with the Cougars unable to chip it back within single digits over the final minutes.
Barotn finished the night shooting 39.6% from the field and matched Dodge City at 33.3% from beyond the arc, but 24 turnovers proved costly as the Conquistadors converted them into 18 points while knocking down 10-of-30 from three pointers, including the three in the fourth quarter.
Donanu paced a pair of Cougars in double figures with 17 points, adding six rebounds and three assists, while Greer contributed with a career high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from long distance. Long added nine points and game high eight rebounds, with Akinde supplying four points, six boards and four blocks.
A trio of Conquistadors reached double figures led by Savi Mi's 17 points off the bench behind 5-of-7 shooting from distance, while Jolie Mantz added 14 and Jade Celerier chipped in 13.