Story by Wyatt Ebersole
The Butler Women picked up a victory in their regular season finale with a monster, 89-55 blowout win over the Independence Pirates on Wednesday night. The Grizzlies cap off the season with a record of 23-6 overall and 18-6 in conference play. The Grizzlies are locked into the #3 seed in the upcoming Region VI Playoffs, meaning they will receive a first-round bye, and they will host a quarterfinals game on Tuesday night likely at 5:30 in the Power Plant.
The Grizzlies got things rolling quickly, breaking out on a 10-2 run in the first five minutes to put themselves up early. A Randi Harding pull-up jumper with 3:27 left in the quarter put Butler up by double digits for the first time at 14-4. After this point, the Grizzlies led by double-digits the rest of the game. The Grizzlies ended the quarter up 21-6 putting together consistent offense and stifling all Pirates offense in the first quarter. The Butler Women held the Lady Pirates to an abysmal 0-15 shooting from the field through the first quarter with all six of Indy's points coming at the free throw line.
The Women continued to run away with the game, quickly going up by more than twenty points early in the second quarter. Butler extended their lead all the way out 28 points after a Jada Knight three made it 36-8 Grizzlies with 5:28 left in the half. Indy managed to slow the Grizzlies down a bit, but Butler still took a monster 47-23 lead into the halftime locker room.
Indy threatened a potential comeback early in the third quarter, as they managed to cut their lead down to under 20 a few times, but the Butler Women always had a response to keep the Indy Pirate ship at bay. A nifty layup from Jaila Harding with 3:21 left in the third gave the Grizzlies a 30-point lead for the first time in the game at 64-34. After another big quarter, the Grizzlies Women led 70-42 and it was all smiles on coach Helmer's bench.
The Grizzlies continued to roll through the Pirates in the fourth quarter, building their lead back over 30 points and eventually taking a 34-point lead over the Pirates that gave the Grizzlies a huge 89-55 victory over the Indy Pirates. The highlight of the night came at the 2:08 mark of the fourth when coach Helmer subbed out his four sophomore players, Jaila Harding, Kaylee Nero, Syncere Harrod, and Jada Knight to give them a nod of recognition for all their hard work and dedication to the Butler Women's Basketball Program in their years here in their final regular season home game.
As mentioned, the Grizzlies are the #3 seed in the Region VI playoffs and will host either the #6 or the #11 seed on Tuesday night.
