Galindo and Hatchard Red Hot as Seward Handle Barton

Coming off of a heartbreaking loss just three days earlier, the #6 Seward County Lady Saints responded well Saturday night in the Greenhouse, putting on a 78-48 shellacking of Barton behind career highs from both Rebekah Hatchard and Daniela Galindo in the win.

It was a dreadfully slow start for both sides in the battle between longtime Jayhawk West rivals Seward and Barton Saturday night in the Greenhouse. Seward scored first, but it took nearly two minutes for that basket to fall and Barton didn’t get their first field goal of the game until nearly the midway point of the first half as they closed the Lady Saints lead to 7-6. Seward started getting it going from there, using a 9-0 run to take control of the game at 16-6. Then it was a lull for the gals in green as Barton crept back into things, closing the Lady Saints advantage to just two at 18-16 before a big three by Rebekah Hatchard with the shot clock winding down put Seward back up by five, 21-16 with 5:42 remaining in the first half. It stayed a five point contest to the 3:23 mark of the period when the Lady Saints ended the half by scoring the final seven points, to take a 34-22 lead and the momentum to the break.

It was a sloppy first half as the two teams combined for 34 turnovers, 19 for Barton and 15 for the Lady Saints. Seward shot 35% on 31 first half field goal attempts while Barton shot 36% but managed to get up just 22 shots because of the fumbles.

Seward carried their momentum right into the second half as Kyndal Davis came out of the shoots and buried a three to put Seward up 15 and they kept on plugging as another long ball later on by Daniela Galindo gave the Lady Saints their largest lead to that point of the night at 45-27 with 14:29 to go. After sputtering some in the first half, the Lady Saints looked like a well-oiled machine in the second half, continuing to build upon their lead, taking a 25 points lead on a finish inside by Axelle Bernard and going up 30 on an old fashioned three point play by Brooklyn Artis with under 2:00 to go. In the end it was a 78-48 victory for the Lady Saints to move just one game away from the 20 win mark.

Surprisingly, the Lady Saints shot just 40% in the win, but forced 39 Barton turnovers on the night which was 4th most in Lady Cougar basketball history. Hatchard and Galindo each had their way with the Barton defense, scoring career highs of 22 and 21 respectively in the victory. Hatchard was 5 for 7 from downtown on the night while Galindo was 5 for 9. Artis and Davis each scored 13 in the victory, Davis collecting a team high 7 rebounds and Artis picking up 6.

Seward improves to 19-2 overall on the year and 7-1 in Jayhawk West action after the first half of conference play while Barton drops to 14-7 overall and 4-5 in league play.

Up next for the Lady Saints will be their first date of the year with Garden City in a makeup game on Monday for the two’s originally scheduled contest on January 21st. The Lady Saints and Lady Busters will get things underway at 6:00 with free admission thanks to Sunflower Bank.

#6 SEWARD COUNTY/BARTON BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wbkb/2014-15/boxscores/20150131_kopo.xml>

Roy Allen