Getting knocked from the unbeaten last time on the hardwood, Saturday afternoon at the Barton Gym the 19th ranked Barton Community College women's basketball team flipped the script in handing Independence Community College its first loss of the season with a 68-56 victory in the teams' conference opener.

Barton came out firing early with a sixteen point advantage after the second quarter, had the lead trimmed to four at the break, before stretching the advantage back out to double-digits midway through the third frame in riding to its 4th straight win of the series.

The victory improves Barton to 5-1 on the season while Independence falls to 5-1.

The Cougars embark on a two-game road stretch during the holiday week beginning with a Tuesday 5:30 p.m. tip at Pratt followed by Saturday's 2:00 p.m. contest at Cloud County. Barton's next home game comes in ten days on November 29 hosting Cowley College.

Grace John's stat stuffing afternoon led the Cougars, knocking down 4-of-5 from behind the arc towards her 17 total points, grabbed 7 rebounds, dished out 2 assists, and led the team's 14 steals with 5 of her own.

Posting her 4th double-double of the freshman's season, Vera Ojenuwa scored 13 points and 10 rebounds. Quezia Bertoni added 12 points, 8 assists, and 4 steals with Vivian Onugha contributing 8 points and 4 rebounds, dishing out 4 assists and coming up with a pair of steals.

Making her collegiate debut, Bella Peterson drained a trey on the way to a 10 point, 6 rebound effort with Ella Brown adding a career high 6 points helping Barton to a plus-11 point edge off the bench.

Sunishka Kartik led the Pirates with 18 points, connecting on 4-of-11 from behind the arc, while Merveille Nkoyock contributed all of her 15 points in first half play.