Box Score by Doug Page
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Barton College women's basketball team limited Converse College to 11 points in the first-half on Tuesday night as the Lady Bulldogs completed the season sweep of the Valkyries with a 59-46 victory.
The Lady Bulldogs (20-7, 15-4) remain in third place in the league standings with one game left to play on Friday against the University of Mount Olive. Barton can still secure the second spot in the league with a win against the Trojans. The Valkyries (9-18, 5-14) shot just 15.4 percent from the floor in the opening half, going 4-of-26 from the field.
Junior Kianna Wynn scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field to go along with nine rebounds and a 6-for-8 effort at the free-throw line. Senior Taura Jones tied a career-high, going 4-of-8 from downtown to tally 12 points for the Lady Bulldogs, while freshman Shanika Peterkin added seven points, five blocks, and a game-high 11 boards. Senior Tatyana Jackson recorded a game-high five assists for Barton.
Abigail Lewis finished 5-of-12 from the floor as she tallied a team-high 11 points for Converse. Dominique Hill added 10 points, four rebounds, and three assists for the Valkyries, while Tatum Boggs went 4-of-6 at the charity stripe en route to an eight-point night. Marshea Murray pulled down a team-high six rebounds for Converse.
Junior Dinah Neal opened the scoring on the night for the Lady Bulldogs by hitting a pair of free-throws to make it 2-0. Lewis knotted the score at 2-2 for the Valkyries, who would eventually take a 4-2 lead with 5:44 left in the quarter as Briana Hill connected on her lone bucket of the night.
Jones gave BC the lead back as she drained her first three of the night with 5:25 remaining. Barton stretched its lead to 10-4 as Jones connected on another three after taking a feed from Jackson. Both sides would play almost three minutes until the next points hit the scoreboard as senior Karimah Dean made a layup to make it 12-4 BC with a shot to add a point at the charity stripe. Converse ended the Barton run with a 4-0 stretch of its own as the Valkyries trimmed the gap to 13-8. Wynn hit the final shot of the quarter to give the Lady Bulldogs a 15-8 advantage.
In the second quarter, Converse hit just one shot from the floor as Hill sank a trey to open the scoring with 8:00 left and cut the Barton lead to 15-11. Wynn started a 15-0 run over the final 7:39 of play for the Lady Bulldogs with a layup to up the lead to 17-11. Redshirt senior Alex Kimble connected on a three to make it 22-11 off an assist from Jones with 5:15 left on the clock.
Sophomore Hanna McGrory made her lone shot of the night count for Barton as she drained a three to make it 25-11. Peterkin ended the quarter by scoring the last five points for Barton and send the Lady Bulldogs into the half with a 30-11 lead over the Valkyries.
Converse had a better start to the third quarter of action, going on a 6-0 run to trim the deficit to 30-17. Jackson ended the run by hitting a trey for Barton with 7:33 left to play. Hill pulled the Valkyries to within 10 points of the Lady Bulldogs as her three made it 35-25. Jones would hit her third trey of the night for Barton with 2:07 left in the quarter to up the lead to 43-27 and lead to a timeout by Converse. Wynn would increase the Barton lead to 46-27 before Converse tallied the last two points of the quarter at the free-throw line.
Jones would give Barton a 20-point edge with 5:07 left to play in the fourth quarter as her fourth trey of the night made it 57-37. Wynn followed with a jumper to make it 59-37 less than a minute later. Luckily the Lady Bulldogs had built a 22-point lead on the scoreboard as Barton would go without a bucket over the final 4:39 of play. Converse closed the game on a 9-0 run as Tatum Boggs hit a layup with 3:56 remaining.
The Valkyries picked the scoring back up with 1:22 to go as T'Nauziah Corley hit 1-of-2 shots at the charity stripe. Tiffani Riggen added the next four points for Converse as her layup with 51 ticks left narrowed the deficit to 59-44. Lindsey Rogers converted her only two points of the night at the free-throw line with 27 seconds left to finish the scoring at 59-46.
Both teams finished the night with 44 rebounds, while the Valkyries committed 24 turnovers. Converse was able to tally 17 points off 18 turnovers by the Lady Bulldogs. Barton added 16 points in the paint compared to 24 for the Valkyries. Converse struggled at the free-throw line, shooting just 60 percent (12-of-20). Barton went 7-of-26 from downtown in the game, while Converse went 2-of-11.
The Lady Bulldogs wrap up the regular season on the road against the Trojans in Mount Olive, N.C. at 5:30 p.m. The Conference Carolinas Tournament is scheduled to start on Feb. 26.
