Helmer Wins 350th, Grizzlies Smother Northwest Tech in 50-Point Victory

EL DORADO, Kan. – Everything was working for the No. 18-ranked Butler Grizzlies as they picked up a 107-57 win over the Northwest Kansas Technical Mavericks on Saturday afternoon at the Power Plant.

With the win, head coach Mike Helmer picked up his 350th career victory as head coach at Butler. He holds a 350-142 overall record in his 16th season.

Butler (16-3, 10-3 KJCCC) put up 107 points, a season-high and the most points scored by a Grizzly women's basketball team since Nov. 10th, 2021, when they scored 117 in a win over Friends University JV. The 107 points scored was the most in a conference game since March 4, 2021, when Butler beat Neosho 120-56 and set the new school record for points scored in a game.

NWKTC (2-16, 1-13) suffered its second 50-plus point loss this season.

Maycee James finished with a triple-double, posting 10 points, 11 assists and 16 rebounds. Randi Harding led all scorers with a career-high 31 points to go with seven assists. Tiana Winn added 16 points and seven rebounds while Dayuna Colvin had 15 points and five rebounds. Freddie Wallace finished with 13 points and four steals as all four Grizzly starters scored in double digits.

The Grizzlies forced 35 Maverick turnovers, scoring 49 points off the turnovers. Butler doubled up NWKTC on the boards, 62-31. They outscored the Mavs 58-32 in the paint, outshooting them from the field – 47.1% (40-85) to 33.3% (21-63).

Serena Lee led the Mavericks with 14 points. Tyjhanae Penny had 11 points while Jalynn Alexander had 10 rebounds off the bench.

Butler put its stamp on the game from the beginning, jumping out to a 14-4 lead three minutes into the game. The Grizzly lead was 34-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Butler returns to action on Wednesday, traveling to Liberal to take on Seward with a 6 p.m. tipoff.