The Barton Community College women’s basketball team scored the first 13 points Tuesday evening at Fleske Fieldhouse, rolling to a 77-40 victory over the Sterling College junior varsity to give head coach Alan Clark his 200th win on his birthday.
Barton improved to 4-0 and returns to Fleske Fieldhouse this weekend for the Best Western/Booster Club Classic. The Cougars face No. 14 Murray State College on Friday and Redlands Community College on Saturday, with both games set for 5:30 p.m.
The Cougars held Sterling scoreless for the first 6:31 and led 19-8 after one quarter. Sterling pulled within 25-15 in the second before Barton scored 11 straight as part of a 17-2 run to close the half. Christal Long scored on back-to-back possessions and Ines Gobert added a jumper to send the Cougars into halftime with a 42-17 lead.
Mersadie Spray scored nine of Barton’s first 13 points after the break, helping stretch the lead to 55-23. The Cougars took a 68-32 advantage into the fourth, where Kylee Reece‘s free throw with 4:41 remaining put all 12 Barton players in the scoring column.
Spray led Barton with 17 points in 19 minutes, while Gobert added 10 points and six rebounds off the bench. Laura Ariza chipped in nine points and four steals. Bryndal Moody matched Ariza with four steals and led Barton with four assists, while Mary Akinde grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and blocked three shots.
Barton collected 21 steals and turned 34 Sterling turnovers into 30 points. The Cougars also grabbed 27 offensive rebounds, scored 21 second-chance points and outscored Sterling 46-4 in the paint.
Adali Valdez led Sterling with 15 points on five 3-pointers as Reece Smith and Alex Terverbaugh each hauled down a game high 10 rebounds and combined 13 points.
