Dodge City women's basketball team wrapped up the regular season with a contest on the road against the Barton Cougars with big implications for the Region VI Tournament and the Conquistadors would fall 60-54 in the matchup.
The loss moves the Conqs to 18-12 on the season and 13-11 in KJCCC action, finishing seventh in the Conference. The seventh-place finish gives the Conqs a first-round playoff game at home in the Region VI Tournament on Saturday, February 26th and they will take on Cloud County at 6:30 pm.
Conqs raced out to an 8-0 start to open the contest against Barton and held a 15-6 lead after the first quarter. That lead grew in the second quarter for the Conqs as Barton had a nearly six-minute span of going scoreless and the Conqs would carry a 28-15 lead into halftime. The lead at the half was the largest of the game for the Conqs as they took advantage of the Cougars' 19.4% shooting in the first half. After the first bucket of the second half, the Conqs went cold from the field as Barton mounted a run going on an 8-0 run that forced a Conq timeout and that run turned into a 14-0 run to tie the game at 30-30 and ultimately was a 19-0 run as Barton took the lead behind a 21-4 third quarter. Conqs didn't give up fighting back to take a 40-38 lead after a
Krystina Hagood layup and free-throw, but Barton answered going up by as many as seven points. With just under a minute left the Conqs trailed just by three points and a three-pointer by
Bree Stephens with 25.7 seconds left made it a three-point game again, but Barton finished off the game taking it 60-54.
In the loss, the Conqs shot 39.6% but Barton shot 37.9% from the floor.
Jada Burton led the Conqs with 16 points while adding five rebounds and five assists.
Bree Stephens tallied 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Hagood scored 11 points and had eight rebounds.
Conqs will host a home playoff game for the first time since the 2004-05 season when they open the Region VI Tournament on Saturday, February 26th against Cloud County at 6:30 pm.
