DODGE CITY

LADY CONQUISTADOR BASKETBALL

Conq women can’t stop Barton offense

By John Curtis Dodge City Daily Globe

The Dodge City Conquistadors women’s basketball team has been relying on keeping teams below 70 points to have a chance of winning Jayhawk West games lately.
But the Conqs didn’t come out with good defensive intensity in losing to the Barton County Cougars 83-61 at Great Bend in their last road game of the season.

"We’re not doing some basic fundamental things that we should be doing," said Dodge City head coach Jim Turgeon. "We’re not blocking out, putting a body on somebody, making contact. It’s pretty basic basketball and we’re not doing it."

Barton County made a school-record 12 three-pointers in 26 attempts and scored 25 second chance points off of 23 offensive rebounds in the win. Victoria Carlile scored 19 points (14 in the second half) to lead the Cougars (24-5, 11-4) in scoring.

"They are a very good rebounding team, and we knew that going in, but you can’t give up 23 offensive boards and expect to win," Turgeon said.

Beth Troutt led Dodge City (19-10, 7-8) in scoring with 20 points, while Aroha Jennings added 14 in the loss. Chanelle Freeman recorded another double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Conqs made only one of their first 10 shots in the contest as Barton County was able to build a 17-4 lead with 13:14 left in the first half. But Dodge City was able to cut the deficit to 38-33 by halftime by making 12-of-20 after the Cougars’ initial run.

"I’m real happy with how hard they played and the way they competed in the comeback like that," Turgeon said. "Even at the end of the game when it was out of reach, I was proud our girls played hard."

Dodge City was able to cut the margin down to four early in the second half, but Barton County was able to pull away, thanks to the help of 18 points off of 11 Conq turnovers. The final score was the largest margin for the Cougars.

Turgeon said before the game that the Conqs were going to try to make a playoff atmosphere. He said he was pleased with the effort, but there was still some work to do before next week’s playoffs.

"The girls want to win and play very hard, but at times, we’re not executing the things out on the court to give us the best chance to win," Turgeon said. "We’re very thin and we have a very low margin for error. Right now, we’re making way too many mistakes to make a run at the playoffs."