The Barton Community College women's basketball team erased a sub-par first half by owning the final nineteen minutes Saturday at the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena, rolling past host Pratt Community College 67–43.
Barton got off to a slow start, trailing by four through the opening six minutes before stringing together six straight points. Pratt closed the opening quarter with the final four points to take a 13–11 lead, but the Beavers would not score for the next five minutes. The Cougars, however, struggled to fully capitalize during the drought, managing just six points before finally finding a spark with a brief burst capped by Eva Clements' three-pointer as part of a 13–2 stretch.
As they did to close the first quarter, Pratt again finished the half with the final four points, trimming Barton's advantage to 24–19 at the break.
Pratt opened the third quarter with another four straight points to extend an 8–0 run before Regina Donanu stopped the stretch on a pair of free throws. The Beavers answered with a three-pointer to knot the game at 26–26 with 7:33 left in the period, but from there it was all Barton. The Cougars responded with free throws to regain the lead, then used a Donanu jumper and a Kodi Greer scoring burst to seize full control. Barton piled up a 21-point third quarter to build a 47–32 edge heading into the fourth.
Pratt never got closer than fourteen in the final period, and after the Beavers cut it to 57–43 with 3:04 remaining, Barton slammed the door by closing the contest with the game's final ten points.
The Cougars improve to 8–10 in Jayhawk Conference play and 10–14 overall, while Pratt's fourteenth straight loss drops the Beavers to 2–16 in league action and 6–17 on the season. Barton returns home Wednesday for "Pink Out Night," hosting Fort Hays Tech Northwest in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.
Donanu posted her first collegiate double-double and flirted with a triple-double, pouring in a game-high 20 points while adding 10 rebounds and eight assists, along with a pair of steals.
Mary Akinde recorded her ninth double-double of the season and third straight, scoring 10 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. Greer provided a first-half spark off the bench and later helped ignite the decisive third-quarter separation, finishing with 10 points and three assists. Mersadie Spray added 10 points and six rebounds, while Clements chipped in seven points and five rebounds. Alaina Eck finished with eight points, and Keyona Hall rounded out the scoring with two points.
Kalani Brock led Pratt with 11 points as Daniella Zamora grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds with 7 points.