Story by Wyatt Ebersole
The Butler Women's Basketball Team participated in the Enid Classic Tournament this past weekend and won both of their matchups to improve to 4-0 on the year, the third consecutive year where the Grizzlies have opened the year winning at least their first four games. The Grizzlies will look to continue the trend of starting off the year winning at least their first 10 games that was started by the 2020-21 and 2021-22 squads who opened their seasons 13-0 and 10-0 respectfully.
The Grizzlies began their weekend play in the Enid Classic on Friday against the tournament host Northern Oklahoma College Enid Jets in Enid, Oklahoma. The Grizzlies came out strong dominating the paint and jumped out to a quick 17-11 lead after the first 10 minutes of play. The Grizzlies continued to pound the ball inside and kept the Jet offense at bay taking a 31-22 lead into the halftime locker room. The Grizzlies kept playing excellent defense all evening and held the Jets to just 24 points in the second half and used this defense to propel them to a 62-46 win to open the tournament. The Grizzlies defense this time around was much improved against the Jets compared to their matchup last season when the Grizzlies allowed the Jets to score 69 points in a win the Grizzlies squeaked out 75-69.
The Grizzlies turned around less than 24 hours later and tipped off against the Mavericks of Northern Oklahoma College Tonkawa. The Grizzlies again got off to a great early start taking a 22-13 over the Lady Mavs after the first quarter, but the Mavericks put together a big second quarter, outscoring the Grizzlies 19-8 and Tonkawa took a 36-30 lead at the halftime break. The first time the Butler Women have trailed at the halfway point this season. The Grizzlies drew up some offense in the locker room as they put on a clinic in the third quarter outscoring the Mavericks 27-11 and taking a 57-47 lead heading into the final frame. The Grizzlies kept pouring it on, scoring another 27 points in the fourth quarter to take the game 84-71.
The Grizzlies begin conference play on Wednesday when head coach James Cole and the Colby Trojans come to El Dorado to face off with Grizzlies at 5:30 in the Power Plant.
