Barton sweeps season series vs. Lady Tigers with 63-52 road win

The Barton Cougars led Saturday's game at Cowley College from start to finish as the Cougars came away with a 63-52 road win.

The teams are trending in different directions as Barton (17-5) has won five games in a row, and Cowley (11-11) has dropped four games in a row after a home win over No. 14-ranked Butler.

On Saturday, Cowley shot just 23 percent in the first quarter yet trailed only 13-10. The Cougars would get 14 first-half points from sophomore forward Vivian Onugha and led the Lady Tigers 30-21 at halftime.

Barton would score the first five points of the third quarter and opened a 17-point lead (42-25) before settling for a 46-33 advantage heading into the final quarter of play.

Trailing 52-35, Cowley would score six straight points to pull within 52-41. However, Barton answered with back-to-back baskets and went on to the 11-point victory.

Onugha led all scorers with 22 points and added eight rebounds. Point guard Grace John added 18 points, seven rebounds, and five assists for the Cougars.

Cowley had four players score in double figures and were led by Hattie Pyle's 17 points. Pyle went just 4-of-18 from the floor but connected on all six of her free throw attempts. Ndack Mbengue played well in the defeat, finishing with 15 points and 14 rebounds. However, Cowley did not get any points from its bench players, and outside of Mbengue, it shot only 20 percent from the floor.

The Lady Tigers have scored only 91 points in the past two games, and they are now 5-11 in the Jayhawk Conference.

"It was kind of the same story," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "We played good defensively, but again, we shot a low percentage as well. We just have to play better."

Barton moves into third place in the conference with a record of 12-4.

Cowley is currently in 10^th place in the conference but has an opportunity to move up in the standings when they play at Garden City (11-10) Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Broncbusters are tied with Independence for eighth place in the conference with a record of 6-10.

Garden City rallied from 16 points down to defeat Cowley 64-59 on December 2 in Arkansas City.

Box score:

Barton (63): Grace John 5-14 3-4 14, Quezia Bertoni 1-4 5-6 7, Vivian Onugha 11-21 0-0 22, Tatum Boetjer 0-4 0-0 0, McKenna Vogl 5-8 1-2 11, Emma Toombs 2-5 0-0 4, Jaci Vonlintel 1-2 0-0 2, Darby Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Maci Smith 1-4 0-0 3, Brittany Simpson 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 26-68 9-12 63.

Cowley (52): Destiny Yates 0-5 0-0 0, Ndack Mbengue 7-14 1-4 15, Anna Przyszlak 3-13 3-4 10, Hattie Pyle 4-18 6-6 17, Jaiden Smith 3-11 2-2 10, Zuzanna Komor 0-1 0-0 0, Georgia Knight 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-62 12-16 52.

Three-pointers: Barton 2-17 (John 1-6, Smith 1-2, Boetjer 0-3, Toombs 0-3, Simpson 0-2, Smith 0-1), Cowley 6-27 (Pyle 3-9, Smith 2-9, Przyszlak 1-5, Yates 0-3, Komar 0-1). Rebounds: Barton 39 (Boetjer 9), Cowley 34 (Mbengue 14). Assists: Barton 11 (John 5), Cowley 12 (Przyszlak 5). Turnovers: Barton 11, Cowley 13. Total fouls: Barton 14, Cowley 15. Fouled out: Pyle, Smith. Technicals: Barton bench.