Butler surges late to win at Pratt, 57-42

Butler's Deztinee Gooden drives to the basket against a Pratt defender.
Butler's Deztinee Gooden drives to the basket against a Pratt defender.

The Butler women returned to their winning ways with a 57-42 victory at Pratt on Wednesday in the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena.

Butler scored the first 10 points of the game on the way to the win, but did have to fight off Pratt at the end.

The Grizzlies took advantage of a pair of 3-pointers from Taylor Birch to trigger the 10-0 run to start the contest. Butler led 14-4 after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Butler scored the first five points to get its biggest lead of the half at 19-4. Pratt responded, however, and outscored Butler 14-2 over the remainder of the second quarter, the Grizzlies were up just 21-18.

Butler built the lead back to seven points in the third quarter, but Pratt was determined. The Beavers tied the game 34-34 before Butler finished the third quarter on a 7-1 run to lead 41-35.

When Kyla Callins drained a long two-pointer from the baseline with 3:44 to play, Butler led 49-40 and that triggered a 10-2 run to end the game.

Birch led Butler with 17 points, while Callins added 12. Callins also had six rebounds, tied for the team lead with Lauryn Snipes.

Butler improved to 14-2 on the season with the win, moving to 5-2 in the Jayhawk East Conference standings. The Grizzlies continues crossover play with the Jayhawk West on Saturday, facing Garden City at home with a 1 p.m. tip-off.