Defense Shines Again as Women’s Basketball Soars Past Garden City

Butler Holds Garden City to 10 First Half Points to Secure Home Win

Defense Shines Again as Women’s Basketball Soars Past Garden City
February 26, 2025

EL DORADO, Kan. – A smothering defensive effort from the Butler women's basketball team helped them to a 67-48 over the Garden City Broncbusters on Wednesday evening at the Power Plant.

Butler (21-6, 16-6 KJCCC) held Garden City (11-16, 8-14) to 10 first half points as they cruised to the 19-point win. The win pushed the regular season series between the two to a split as Garden defeated the Grizzlies 77-51 at Conestoga Arena on Jan. 11th. Garden City has now lost five straight while the Grizzlies have won six out of their last seven.

Garden City had two points for the first 7:55 of the game as the Grizzlies got out to an 18-2 lead. The first quarter ended with Butler leading 21-4 as they held Garden to 2-14 shooting from the field, 0-7 from three. Butler shot 61.5% in the opening quarter as Lucia Lara poured in seven points and Keegan Yarick six.

The second quarter saw Butler's defense stay true, allowing just six points to make it a 34-10 lead entering halftime. The Broncbusters did not score in the second quarter until the 3:08 mark as an Ajong Lual layup made it 29-6 Butler.

The Broncbusters outscored Butler 38-33 in the second half but it proved to be too little too late. Butler outrebounded Garden 44-28 and forced 20 turnovers. Garden shot 33.3% on the game compared to Butler's 42.6%. The Grizzlies shot just 16-30 (53.3%) from the free throw line.

Yarick led all scorers with 16 points to go with nine rebounds and three steals. Lara finished with a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds, also dishing out three assists. Ashley Singhateh scored 15 points and pulled down 11 rebounds off the bench, just her second game not starting all season. Mya Mayberry had seven points, six assists and three steals. Garden City was led by Bruna Costa Da Silva's 11 points while Ana Ramos Pires and Antonicia Moultrie each had 10.

Butler hits the road on Saturday traveling to Concordia to take on the Cloud County T-Birds with tipoff set for 2 p.m. from Arley Bryant Gymnasium.