NEOSHO, Mo. - The Butler women open 2014 where they left off in 2013, with a 80-58 drubbing of Crowder College on the road.

Thursday's game marked almost three weeks off between contests for the No. 8 Grizzlies, and early on, the rust of such a lay off was evident. But midway through the first half, the Grizzlies were up 25-22 when freshman Shelbe VandeBerghe provided an offensive spark with back to back baskets in the paint.

Butler finished the half on a 22-3, allowing the Roughriders only those three points over the last 11 minutes of the first half. The Grizzlies went the intermission having taken control 47-25.

The first five minutes of the second half saw the Grizzlies pick up where they left off with a swarming defensive effort increasing the lead as many as 33. In the final minutes of play Crowder continued to battle and cut the deficit to its final margin of 22.

Leading the way for the Grizzlies offensively was Sophomore Te'era Williams with 19 points. Shayla Williams, who made her second start of the season, had 15 point. Ashley Gibson scored 13, Ashlee Ivy had 10, Alli Heimerman scored six, Kynadi Johnson had five and Chelsea Hodison, Bethany Howard, and Shelbe VandeBerghe each had four points apiece.

With the win, the Grizzlies improve to 15-1 and have won 13 in a row. Butler now has outscored its opponents by 20 or more points in ten of its fifteen wins this season while posting an average margin of victory of 24.8 points per contest.

The Grizzlies are next in action on Monday Jan. 6 at the Power Plant as they host Northern Oklahoma -Tonkawa. Tip time is 5:30pm.