Cougars surge past Cloud County, 78-57

GREAT BEND — Flipping the script in the second half, the Barton Community College Cougars surged to a 78-57 Jayhawk Conference victory over the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds Wednesday night.
Cloud County led Barton 35-27 at halftime.
The Cougars poured in 51 points over the final two quarters, and limited the Thunderbirds to 22 points to pick up the win.
Cloud County falls to 7-10 overall and 2-5 in conference play with the loss.
The T-Birds would extend their seven point halftime lead to 10 points, 38-28, when freshman Jacy Dalinghaus knocked down a three-point shot 1:19 into the second half.
Dalinghaus, who connected on five of eight three-point attempts, led all scorers with 22 points. She also had seven rebounds.
Barton, 8-8 overall and 3-3 in the conference, then started to mount its comeback.
The Cougars went on a 24-0 sizzle to go on top 52-38 when D'Shonda Hunt scored with 2:12 to play in the third period.
Cloud County went nearly seven minutes without scoring before Isabella Vazquez completed a three-point play to make it a 52-41 game.
Barton answered with a three by Vanessa Oduah, and led 55-41.
A basket by Dalinghaus and a free throw by LaKya Leslie got the T-Birds back within 11 points, 55-44.
Richelle Turney scored in the final seconds of the quarter to give the Cougars a 57-44 cushion.
Cloud County would get no closer than 11 points over the final 10 minutes of play.
Kelsie Kelly joined Dalinghaus in double figures for Cloud County with 11 points.
Maeson Dewey came off the bench to score seven points and pull down seven rebounds.
Leslie finished with 11 rebounds.
The T-Birds shot just 27 percent (20 of 75) from the field in the game. They put up 35 shots from three-point range, and made 10 of them, for 29 percent and were 7 of 11 from the free throw line for 64 percent.
Oduah led four Barton players in double figures with 22 points.
Queen Ulabo tossed in 15 points for the Cougars.
Richelle Turney scored 11 points and Hunt added 10.
Barton was 30 of 63 from the floor for 48 percent and 10 of 22 from the line for 46 percent.
Dalinghaus scored eight points as Cloud County bolted to a 15-4 lead on Barton in the first five minutes of the game.
The Cougars would close the gap to 21-17 by the end of the first quarter.
A bucket by Turney and a free throw by Hannah Valentine pulled Barton within a point, 21-20, early in the second stanza.
Cloud County used an 11-2 spurt to go up 33-22 when Kelly scored with 2:27 remaining in the first half.
Barton closed the gap to seven points by halftime, and then used the big second half to get the win.
The T-Birds will host Pratt Community College at 2 p.m. Saturday.