By MIKE KESSINGER

mkessinger@gctelegram.com

GREAT BEND -- Through the first 16 minutes, the Garden City Community College Lady Broncbusters answered just about everything Barton County threw at them. It was the final four minutes that proved too much for Garden City to overcome as Barton County pulled away Thursday night 78-45.

In a game pushed back a day because of severe weather conditions on Wednesday, the Lady Cougars found something they hadn't been able to do in the their last two games -- win.

For Garden City it was what head coach Jake Ripple called a step back.

"I think we played scared in the second half," Ripple said. "I think we had a bunch of people that didn't have much guts tonight. We just didn't get it done in the second half."

The Lady Cougars got its winning feel back by picking apart a much shorter Garden City team that will be without 5-foot-11 freshman Amelia Jones for the remainder of the season. Jones suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear in her left knee during the Lady Busters loss Saturday at home to Cloud County. Without Jones, Barton was able to utilize its low post area more with 6-5 Inga Muciniece or 6-0 Jessica Halsig, but they also did it with their guard play. Point guard Courtney Sturdivant, who finished with a game-high 17 points, did much of her damage by slicing through the Lady Busters defense for layups.

Barton County (17-2, 3-2) was also helped by the Lady Busters inability to get any offensive momentum going in the second half. Garden City had just four field goals in the final 20 minutes. The last field goal the Lady Busters made came with 9:34 left when Katie Novack hit a 3-pointer.

"I don't know what it was," Ripple said. "For 16 in a half minutes, we're right there. They finished the first half on a 10-0 run because we missed a couple of things defensively. Then in the second half, it was like we disappeared. It was like we were scared to play against them."

The Lady Busters were well within striking distance in the first 16 minutes as 10 point leads Barton County built would be cut to four, then another double-digit was cut to one when Jessica Copeland hit a jumper for Garden City (6-12, 2-3) to make it 30-29. The Lady Cougars finished the half on a 10-0 run though, and Garden City went cold. The four made field goals were marred by the 26 misses. And it wasn't that Barton County was on a hot streak from the floor. The Lady Cougars hit just 37 percent of their shots, but did outrebound Garden City 59 to 38. Muciniece doing much of the damage with 15 rebounds. Barton County had four players in double-figures. Following Sturdivant's 17-point effort, was Halsig with 15, Kristine Silaraja had 13 and Muciniece added 10.

The Lady Busters led by Trista Schmitt with 10 points will step out of conference play against Lamar on Saturday at Perryman Athletic Complex. The game is a make up game from before Christmas break. It will start at 3 p.m.

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Garden City 29 16 -- 45

Barton County 40 38 -- 78

GARDEN CITY (6-12, 2-3): L. Brown 0-4 3-4 3, Young 3-8 0-0 7, A. Brown 1-5 0-2 2, Copeland 2-8 2-2 7, Burnett 0-0 1-2 1, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Schmitt 4-14 0-2 10, Durler 2-10, Novack 3-10 0-0 9, Loadholt 0-0 2-3 2. Totals -- 15-60 8-15 45.

BARTON COUNTY (17-2, 3-2): Sturdivant 6-14 4-4 17, Silaraja 4-11 3-4 13, Conley 2-8 1-2 7, Muciniece 3-16 4-6 10, Halsig 5-6 2-2 15, Turkyilmaz 3-6 0-0 6, Bogart 0-2 0-0 0, Hillman 2-5 1-2 5, Curry 1-3 1-1 3. Totals -- 27-73 16-21 78.

3-Point Goals -- Garden City 7-24 (Novack 3-8, Schmitt 2-4, Copeland 1-5, Young 1-4, A. Brown 0-3); Barton Co. 8-20 (Halsig 3-3, Silaraja 2-6, Conley 2-6, Sturdivant 1-2, Lacio 0-1, Turkyilmaz 0-1, Hillman 0-1). Fouled out: None. Rebounds -- Garden City 38 (Durler 11); Barton Co. 59 (Halsig 15, Muciniece 10). Assists -- Garden City 12 (A. Brown 5); Barton Co. 17 (Sturdivant 4, Turkyilmaz 4). Total fouls -- Garden City 16, Barton Co. 14.