Butler Comes Up Short at No. 8 Hutchinson

HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Butler Grizzlies women's basketball team had its five-game win streak snapped on Saturday afternoon at the Sports Arena by the eighth ranked Hutchinson Blue Dragons, falling 54-49.

The Grizzlies (20-6, 15-6) battled all game but never led. It was a defensive slugfest with Butler shooting 37.5% (18-48) and Hutchinson (24-3, 18-3) shooting 36.1% (22-61) from the field.

Hutchinson outrebounded the Grizzlies 42-33 including 12 offensive boards. Turnovers plagued both teams with the Grizzlies having 17 and Hutchinson 16 but the Blue Dragons converted 16 points off the takeaways compared to Butler's six. The Grizzlies were 4-22 from three with Hutch knocking in 7-31 from downtown.

Butler surrendered 21 first quarter points which was the most all game from either team as Hutch shot 10-20 from the field in the opening quarter. Hailey Jackson scored 12 of her team-high 13 points in the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Hutch take their largest lead of the game, 12, at the 6:06 mark to make it 30-18. Butler's Destiny Smith and Mya Mayberry then hit back-to-back threes to trim the deficit to six at the second quarter media timeout. Keegan Yarick drilled a triple to pull Butler within four at 31-27 with two minutes in the half but Hutchinson's Katie Duncan converted a triple with 12 seconds to play to send Hutch to halftime leading 34-27.

A Lucia Lara layup with three minutes to go in the third quarter pulled Butler within one at 41-40, forcing a Hutch timeout. Duncan hit another three out of the timeout and Hutch went on a 5-0 run to close the quarter leading 49-40.

Butler's defense was impressive in the fourth quarter holding the Blue Dragons to five points, a season-low for them. The 20 second half points Hutch put up was also a season-low. The Blue Dragon lead went to 12 a minute into the fourth quarter as they hit another three. The Grizzlies went on a 7-0 run with a three from Smith and layups from Lara and Kenzie Galliart, making it a five-point game, 52-47, at the final media timeout.

Yarick made two free throws that saw Butler pull within three with 3:47 to go but it was the closest the Grizzlies got the rest of the way and their last points of the game. Over the final three minutes only one field goal was scored as Duncan put in a layup with 1:30 to play. Hutch shot 0-4 from the free throw line during the final minute but the Grizzlies could not get a shot to go down.

Yarick led all scorers with 14 points shooting 7-8 from the free throw line. She also pulled down five rebounds and had three assists. Lara added 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists while Mayberry finished with seven points and seven rebounds. Kahlen Norris had 12 points for the Dragons while Duncan had 10.  Jackson added 13 points and 12 rebounds.

The Grizzlies have lost five consecutive games to Hutchinson.

Butler turns its attention to  a home game vs. Garden City on Wednesday with tipoff slated for 5:30 p.m.