4th Quarter Dominance Leads Women’s Basketball to Road Win Over Cloud

CONCORDIA, Kan. – Butler women's basketball picked up a 76-57 road win over Cloud County at Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.

The win for the Grizzlies (22-6, 17-6 KJCCC) means they can finish no lower than fourth place in the Jayhawk Conference which locks up a first-round bye in the upcoming Region 6 Tournament.

Butler trailed 32-31 at halftime but outscored the T-Birds (16-12, 11-12) 45-25 in the second half including 25-10 in the fourth quarter as they turned the jets on to secure the win. It marks the Grizzlies 14th straight win over the T-Birds.

Sophomore forward Lucia Lara finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds securing her third double-double in Butler's last four games. Freshman guard Destiny Smith also added 25 points to lead the way for the Grizzlies. Freshman guards Keegan Yarick and Mya Mayberry had 12 and 12 points, respectively, with Mayberry adding five rebounds and four assists. Kenzie Galliart scored 10 points off the bench.

The Grizzly defense held Cloud to 33.9% shooting (19-56), while shooting 46% themselves (29-63). They outrebounded Cloud 40-31 and shot 6-15 (40%) from three compared to Cloud's 4-16 (25%).

Yarick scored nine of her 14 points in the first quarter helping the Grizzlies to a 16-14 lead after one. The Grizzlies led 26-20 midway through the second quarter but Cloud used a 10-3 run to lead 30-29 with a minute left in the half. Butler took its largest lead of the game, 71-51, with 3:30 to play in the fourth quarter.

Butler closes its regular season slate out on Wednesday as Cowley travels to the Power Plant for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. With a Butler win and Coffeyville loss to Barton, the Grizzlies would slide up and finish in third place in the league.