Box Score SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Barton women's basketball team (24-5), the second seed in the 2020 Conference Carolinas Championship, overwhelmed Emmanuel (Ga.) (20-10), 76-51, in the semifinals on Saturday afternoon at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. The Lions were seeded third.
The Bulldogs will now take on fourth-seeded Limestone (21-8) in the finals at 1:00 p.m., on Sunday on the campus of Wofford College. The Saints upset No. 1 seed Belmont Abbey (27-3) by a 74-69 score in their semifinal game.
Barton – winners of 11 straight games – was led by junior center Shanika Peterkin (Virginia Beach, Va.). Peterkin, the 2019-20 league player and defensive player of the year, finished with 20 points to go along with nine rebounds and five blocked shots and is now four points away from 1,000 for her collegiate career.
Barton sophomore guard Akira Wiggins (Knightdale, N.C.) added 15 points as the Bulldogs outscored the Lions by a 22-4 count in the third period to break the game open. The Lions were held to just 33 percent shooting (20-of-60) as the Bulldogs avenged a pair of regular season losses to Emmanuel. The Lions were led by Breanna Locke (Flowery Branch, Ga.) with 10 points but trailed by as many as 30 points early in the fourth period: 65-35 with 9:16 left in the contest.
Barton, who is looking to win the conference tournament championship for the second time in three years, also improved to 17-1 in its last 18 games. Barton junior guard Summer Baer (Fleming Island, Fla.) hit two treys to give her 174 career three-pointers, a new program record for the NCAA Division II era. Baer also has a league-leading 104 treys on the season.
