Broncbusters stumble in Great Bend

Great Bend, KS-Garden City's depth has been an issue all season. 

Saturday was no exception. 

Vera Ojenuwa had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Tatum Boettjer nailed five 3s, and Barton pushed past a depleted Broncbuster group, 50-41 at Barton gym. The loss dropped Garden City to 15-12 overall and 10-12 in conference play. 

Sierra Driessen, who finished with just 13 points on 6-of-16 shooting, was one of four Broncbuster starters to log 40 minutes. Only Carly Lang saw time off the bench. 

Greg Franklin's bunch started strong, building an eight-point lead early in the second following a Cougar turnover, which Sariah Conley turned into a transition layup to make it 16-8 with 9:47 to go. But Barton flipped the script, responding with a 20-10 run to close the half capped by Darby Smith's buzzer-beating 3-pointer, giving the home team a 28-26 lead going into the locker room. 

But once again, the third quarter was Garden City's undoing.

The Broncbusters managed just seven points and misfired on 8 of their 11 shots in the period as Barton took a 42-33 lead into the fourth.  

Boettjer hit a momentum-shifting 3 90 seconds into the final stanza, and the Cougars had a 10-point edge.  

After Driessen's layup cut the deficit to six with 4:52 to go, the Broncbusters went the next 4:31 without a field goal. Only a Lang made layup with 20 seconds to go ended the scoring drought as Garden City mustered only 15 second-half points.  

Maya Nieto finished with nine points but was just 3-of-14 shooting for Garden City, which saw its three-game winning streak snapped. Antonicia Moultire added seven points and 12 rebounds.