CHANUTE, Kan. – The Butler women put up two of their biggest quarters of the season on the way to one of the highest-scoring games in program history on Wednesday at Neosho County, winning 113-83.
While Butler eventually rolled to a 30-point win, the Grizzlies trailed by double digits on three separate occasions in the first quarter. Neosho scored the first seven points of the game, then took a 13-3 lead just over two minutes into the contest. Neosho would lead by 10 again at 21-11 and then took their largest lead at 28-17 with 1:41 left in the first quarter. At that point, the Panthers had already knocked down five 3-pointers.
Butler would withstand the storm and score the final five points of the quarter, trailing 28-22 going to the second. The Grizzlies managed to tie the game 30-30 on a 3-pointer by Jalise Smallwood with 7:36 left in the half. Then just over two minutes later, Smallwood would drain another 3-pointer to put Butler ahead 35-32 – the first lead of the game for the Grizzlies.
That was part of 20-2 run for Butler to start the quarter, with 12 straight points in less than two minutes of game time. Butler would eventually stretch the lead to as many as 18 after five straight points by Awreona Ransom. The Grizzlies led 58-40 at the half.
The 35 points in the second quarter were topped by Butler scoring 36 in the third quarter. Butler led by as many as 38 points, going up 89-51 on a bucket by Deztinee Gooden with 2:23 left in the quarter. The Grizzlies were up 93-57 going to the fourth.
Butler put up another 20 points in the fourth. Butler hit triple digits on a bucket by Kyla Callins with 5:38 to go in the game.
The 36 points in the third quarter are the third-highest scored in a quarter in program history behind 39 in the third quarter of a 100-49 win over Hesston on Nov. 7 of this season and 37 scored in the third quarter of a game at Colby in February 2018. This is the first time Butler has scored at least 35 points in two quarters in the same game.
Awreona Ransom scored 20 points to lead Butler, which is her career high. Her previous high was 18 points scored against Central Nebraska on Nov. 10. Lauryn Snipes scored 19 points for Butler, which is her second-highest scoring output this season. Kyla Callins had a double-double with 13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Jelesa Gross had 12 points and Criste'On Waters had 11.
Butler has won six straight and improves to 19-2 on the season and is now 10-2 in Jayhawk Conference play, good for first place in the East Division. The Grizzlies are off on Saturday before returning to action with a home game on Wednesday, Jan. 30 against Cowley, which is second in the East at 17-4 overall and 7-3 in conference.