For the second straight season the Barton Community College women's basketball team knocked at the Region VI title door, but again the door took some dents and didn't open as the Cougars came up short 67-61 Saturday to Independence Community College Saturday evening at Friends University.
The loss drops Barton to 20-6 on the year with Independence advancing to the NJCAA Division I Championship in Lubbock, Texas, beginning April 19. The Cougars' season isn't technically over as Barton received notice in being selected as one of the alternates that could be used in the event one of the 24 teams are unable to attend the tournament. This enables the squad to continue practicing until the 9:00 p.m. Thursday deadline of teams notifying the national office of their attendance. Should there become an opening, Barton would be in consideration based on a process outlined by the NJCAA in replacement team selections.
Playing what might have been their final games in a Cougar uniform, the "big three" of Tiffany Dortland, Vanessa Oduah, and Queen Ulabo scored 52 of the 61 Barton points on the night and all but ten of the shots attempted.
Oduah topped the box score getting banged around all night in scoring eleven of her 21 points from the free throw line, joined by Dortland for team high honors of four assists each.
Ulabo posted her second straight double-double and third of the last five games, scoring 18 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, five coming on the offensive glass to go along with a game high four steals.
Dortland added three steals and 7 rebounds to her four assists, finishing with 13 points.
Neither team shot well from the field, the Pirates finishing at 37.3% including 9-of-32 from beyond the arc while Barton suffered its second straight sub-par shooting percentage in connecting on just 31.1% from the field and just 15% from long range (3-of-20).
The Pirates' balanced scoring of five reaching double-figures was led by Miriam Bazylewicz off the bench with 13 points. A pair of double-doubles dotted the scoresheet with Delani Harris scoring 12 points with 11 rebounds while Rapuluchi Favor Ayodele Ngorka scored 11 points in hauling down a game high 16 rebounds. Eriel West also added 11 points with three steals and Mira Khan contributed 10 points. Maisa Marcal led the distribution with six assists.
RECAP
The Cougars led three times in the contest, once at 4-3 after Cora Anderson and Oduah buckets, and the second time just three minutes into the contest at 6-5 following Dortland's find to Ulabo.
Independence rolled out with eight straight to put Barton fighting from behind for the rest of the night.
The Pirates led by six at the end of the quarter with Barton tying it up at 23 and again at 26 before a 7-0 run closed out first half action and a ten point Independence advantage.
Barton owned the third quarter, outscoring the Pirates 20-11 in the frame including a 12-0 run erasing Independence's largest lead of thirteen, drawing to within 44-43 with 3:46 to play. Independence responded with a 4-0 spurt but the Cougars fired back behind six straight from Ulabo claiming its final lead at 49-48 with 47 seconds left in the quarter.
The Pirates scored the final bucket of the third to go back on top, adding a 1-of-2 trip to the line for a two-point cushion. The margin grew to six with four to play following West's third three-pointer of the game but the Cougars didn't go away in staying within a possession the rest of the way.
Barton had two chances in the final minute to tie or grab the lead but shooting woes continued to plague the squad as Independence went perfect from the charity stripe in two trips to seal their first Championship since 1996.