The Butler women made an impressive statement Wednesday at the Power Plant in their first game as members of the Jayhawk East Conference as the No. 14 Grizzlies throttled No. 19 Cowley 82-58 in a pair of ranked teams picked to finish atop the league standings.
Cowley was the preseason pick to win the conference and Butler, in its first season in the East after decades as a part of the Jayhawk West, was picked to finish second. But on Wednesday, the Grizzlies dispelled the validity of those predictions.
Butler jumped out to an 11-0 lead, holding Cowley scoreless for more than six minutes to start the contest. The Tigers were still in the game, down 17-6 before Butler went on a 10-0 run with eight of those points coming on fast break layups. That put Butler up by 21, which is the same margin the Grizzlies enjoyed at halftime, up 39-18.
The Grizzlies continued to dominate in the second half. Butler eventually pushed the lead past 30 when Ashley Gibson made a layup with 7:43 to go in the game that made it 63-32.
The biggest lead of the game was 34 points, coming on a layup by Gibson that made it 71-37 with 5:42 to play.
Te'era Williams had another huge game for the Grizzlies, with 24 points and 14 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. She was the only Grizzly in double figures. Alli Heimerman had nine points on three 3-pointers, while Ashley Gibson and Katie Andersen had eight points apiece. Ashlee Ivy and Teanna Reid scored seven apiece, Shayla Williams and Chelsea Hodison had six apiece, Kynadi Johnson added five and Terryuana Godwin rounded out the scoring with two points.
Butler is now 18-1 on the season and is 1-0 in the Jayhawk East. The Grizzlies have won 16 games in a row, closing in on the school record of 20 wins in a row set to start the season in 2002.
The Grizzlies will play their first conference road game this Saturday with a trip to Coffeyville to take on the Red Ravens, who are 10-7 overall and 1-0 in conference after a home win over Allen County on Wednesday. Butler's next home game is against Allen a week from tonight at 5:30 p.m.
