The Butler women's basketball team withstood a 26-point performance from Cloud's Jasmina Jones and came from behind to defeat the T-Birds 75-70 on the road Monday night.
Butler would strike first in a game that featured seven ties and five lead changes. The Grizzlies jumped out to a 20-15 first quarter lead behind nine points from Camille Downs.
They would get their largest lead of the game with 9:00 left in the second quarter after a RaVon Nero layup. Cloud County had an answer and it came in the form of Jasmina Jones as she made back to back to back three pointers to tie the game at 24-24 with 5:44 left in the second quarter. That would spark a 17-6 run for the T-Birds to finish the quarter and take a 41-32 lead into halftime.
"I told the girls at half that we need to just play hard," commented head coach Mike Helmer. "We have to trust each other and learn to compete together. On possession at a time, together."
Butler came out of the locker room and began to chip away at the T-Bird lead. Steadily, the Grizzlies cut into the lead throughout the quarter making one stop at a time. Carissa Beck would drain a three pointer with 1:13 left and Jaelynn McLaurian would make two free throws with :10 left to get within two points at the end of the quarter, 59-57.
Carissa Beck, in the first possession of the fourth quarter, knocked down a wing three to give Butler their first lead since the 5:55 mark of the second quarter. Butler led 70-68 with 4:24 left in the game when both teams stalled offensively. A Tamara Nard free throw would end the drought with :49 seconds left in the game. Butler would make four more free throws and go onto win the game 75-70.
RaVon Nero led Butler in scoring with 22 points and three steals. Camille Downs finished with 16 points, six rebounds and five steals in her 20 minutes of play. Tamara Nard scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds while Carissa Beck went 4-6 from deep and finished with 12 points.
The Grizzlies show 47% from the floor and 50% from three-point range and held Cloud County to just 34% from the floor and 32% from deep.
Butler (13-5, 6-2) will look ahead to Allen (6-11, 1-7) as they host the Red Devils on Wednesday, January 15 at 11:00am in the Power Plant.
