Cougars shut down Thunderbirds, 69-36

GREAT BEND — For the third time this season the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds struggled to score against Barton Community College zone.
After averaging just 41.5 points per game in a pair of regular season losses, the T-Birds shot just 23 percent (13 of 56) from the field in a 69-36 setback to 16th-ranked Barton in the quarterfinals of the Region VI Tournament Tuesday night in the Kirkland Center.
Seventh-seeded Cloud County connected on just 3 of 31 three-point attempts for 10 percent in the loss, and finished the season 17-14.
“We have not been a good shooting team all year. Statistically, we are one of the worst, if not the worst, three-point shooting team in the conference,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said. “They (Barton) were able to play that zone with their two big, physical post people. They physically manhandled our interior people, so it pretty much eliminated our interior scoring ability, and we took, I thought, a lot of quick, ill-advised three-point shots.”
Second-seeded Barton (26-5) advances to the tournament semifinals for the fifth consecutive year and will play third-seeded Butler Community College on Friday at Friends University in Wichita.
Butler downed Garden City Community College 74-47 in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.
Top-seeded Dodge City Community College slipped past Independence Community College, 67-63. Fifth-seeded Coffeyville got past fourth-seeded Hutchinson Community College, 73-68.
Dodge City and Coffeyville will play in the other semifinal.
Falling behind 4-0 to start the game, Cloud County got a basket by Alize Ruiz to make it 4-2 with 6:43 to play in the first quarter.
The T-Birds did not score again from the field for 6:41.
Barton put together a 17-6 run to open up a 21-7 advantage.
A three-point shot by Kayla Horton with two seconds remaining in the first period ended Cloud County’s field goal drought and made it a 21-10 game.
The T-Birds were just 2 of 14 from the floor in that first 10 minutes.
“I thought we got frustrated early and never pulled ourselves out of it,” Erkenbrack said.
A bucket by Mikaela Hall and two free throws by Jenny Nkem Womsi in the first 1:11 of the second period gave the Cougars a 25-10 cushion.
Sarah Lawless hit from 18 feet with 8:38 remaining in the first half, and Cloud County trailed 25-12.
The T-Birds would not score again in the period.
Barton managed just nine points during that stretch, but had a 34-12 halftime lead.
“You go 3 for 28 the first half you are not going to win. You are not going to score, and if you don't score you can't win,” Erkenbrack said.
Cloud County’s Maimouna Sissoko hit from eight feet early in the second half to make it a 34-14 game.
A 10-2 Barton spurt extended the lead to 44-16.
The T-Birds got a three-point play by Josephine Igherighe and a baseline jumper by Te Araroa Sopoaga.
A three-point play by Womsi and a three-point shot by Brennan Kirchoff put the Cougars up 50-31 heading into the final period.
Barton scored 19 points in the fourth quarter to 15 for the T-Birds.
Ruiz led Cloud County with eight points and 11 rebounds.
Barton had three players score in double figures led by Kirchoff with 19 points.
Womsi scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Morgan Meyers added 10 points.
“Big picture, we had a solid season,” Erkenbrack said. “I am saying we won 18 games and were 12-12 in the conference. We had some good wins and faced our fair share of adversity.”
Cloud County had its final regular season game against Colby Community College cancelled because Colby did not have enough healthy players.
The Jayhawk Conference called the game a no-contest and did not count on the record for either team.