Butler Women’s Basketball to Host Cowley in Region 6 Quarterfinals

The Teams: 4-Seed Butler Grizzlies (22-7, 17-7 KJCCC) vs. 5-Seed Cowley Tigers (21-9, 15-9 KJCCC)

When: Tuesday, March 11th, 5:30 p.m.

What: NJCAA Region 6 Tournament Quarterfinals

Venue: Power Plant, El Dorado

Tickets: ButlerGrizzlies.com/Tickets or purchase at the door. GA tickets $6, chairback $10, children 12 and under free

Streaming: ButlerGrizzlies.com/WatchLive or the BCTV+ mobile app

Live Stats: https://butlergrizzlies.com/sports/wbkb/2024-25/boxscores/20250311_j4wa.xml

The fifth seeded Butler women's basketball team is officially in postseason mode.

Butler received a bye in the first round while fifth seeded Cowley defeated 12-seed Independence 99-58 in Arkansas City to set up a meeting with the Grizzlies.

The winner of Tuesday's game moves on to play in the Region 6 Final Four at Fort Hays State's Gross Memorial Coliseum on Friday. The semifinal matchup for the Grizzlies or Tigers is the winner of one-seed Dodge City and eight-seed Barton and will be played at 1 p.m. in Hays. The championship game is slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday in Hays.

THE BRACKET

Click here to view the full bracket and tournament information.

THE MATCHUP

Butler and Cowley met twice this season with each team winning on the road. Butler won 65-56 in Arkansas City and Cowley won 69-45 in the regular season finale at the Power Plant. In the first meeting the Grizzlies led from the end of the first quarter through the end of the game. Butler held Cowley to 25% shooting (17-68) and 20.8% from distance (10-48). The Grizzlies shot 43.1% from the field (25-58) and 25% from three (4-16). Freshman Kenzie Galliart led the way with 14 points and seven rebounds while freshman guard Keegan Yarick had 13 points and six rebounds. Click here for the full recap. In the most recent meeting Cowley handed the Grizzlies their largest loss of the season as the Grizzlies had their worst shooting night of the season, shooting 23.3% (14-60) from the field including a season-low 2-26 (23.3%) from three-point range. Meanwhile Cowley knocked in 15 triples (15-38) and shot 40% from the field (24-60). Cowley led for 37:14 minutes of regulation, leading by as much as 27 late in the fourth quarter. They had four players score in double figures led by Jaiden Smith's 20 points on 6-14 shooting from three. Click here for the full recap.

LOOKING AT BUTLER

• Butler is 10-3 at home this season.
• The Grizzlies are 7-3 in their last 10 games.
• The Grizzlies wrapped up the regular season averaging 70.1 points per game, fourth best in the 13-team league.
• Butler ended the regular season leading the league with 44.2 total rebounds per game, a +12.5 rebounding margin and 16.5 offensive rebounds per game.
• Freshman guard Ashley Singhateh finished the regular season leading Butler with 13.0 points per game. Fellow freshman Keegan Yarick was the only other Grizzly to average double figures coming in at 12.4. Yarick led the team with 2.3 steals per game.
• Freshman forward Kenzie Galliart is fifth in the conference and leads the team with a 48.9% field goal percentage. She is averaging 9.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
• Freshman forward Lucia Lara led the Grizzlies with four double-doubles of points and rebounds this season including three in the final five games of the regular season.
• The Butler defense has held opponents to 31.8% from the field this season, second best in the conference behind Dodge City.
• Butler finished the regular season leading the conference in defense allowing just 50.7 points per game.

LOOKING AT COWLEY

• Cowley is 9-4 in road games this season.
• The Tigers enter the quarterfinal matchup on a five-game winning streak with wins over Hutchinson, Garden City, Cloud County, Butler and Independence.
• Cowley ended the regular season leading the league averaging 80.0 points per game.
• The Tigers made the second most threes in the conference, 307, behind Dodge City's 327. The Tigers shot 30.4% from deep compared to Butler's 29.5% on 189 made threes.
• Four Tigers average double digits with Elyse Martinez leading the way pouring in 17.1 points per game, third best in the conference.
• Cowley turns the ball over the least amount in the league, averaging just 12.9 per game. They average 17.7 assists per game, second best behind Dodge City.
• Cowley forces opponents into 27.1 turnovers per game, the tops in the conference. Their 15.3 steals per game also leads the league.

PLAYOFF HISTORY

• Butler has advanced past the first round of the Region 6 Tournament in 15 consecutive seasons and in 15 of head coach Mike Helmer's 17 seasons.
• The Grizzlies have advanced past the quarterfinal round in seven seasons under Helmer including two Region championships (2019, 2020).
• Butler has won two Region 6 Championships in program history winning back-to-back in 2019 and 2020.
• Butler has played Cowley twice in the Region 6 Tournament in the Mike Helmer era and is 0-2 vs. the Tigers in those games. In the 2017 quarterfinals Cowley beat Butler 84-77 at Hartman Arena. The following season in 2018 Cowley again won in the quarterfinals, this time 69-67 at Hartman.
• Cowley has lost in the opening round of the Region 6 Tournament in back-to-back seasons.
• The Tigers have not advanced past the quarterfinal round since the 2017-18 season.

THOUGHTS FROM COACH HELMER

On how the bye helped for preparation and rest…

"You know, the whole goal from day one, obviously you'd like to win the league, but the biggest goal was to get the bye. We understand how important that extra little break is. It gives the girls a couple days off to just get away, clear their minds a little bit."

On ending the regular season and opening the postseason with Cowley…

"It just is what it is. You know, you have to get ready. It makes the scout a little easier because we don't have to put a new team in, but at the end of the day, everybody's 0-0 so we have to lock in."

What challenges does Cowley present…

"The thing is you have to figure out a way to make it difficult for them to move the ball and score. If you let them set their feet, they're not going to miss very often. I didn't feel like defensively we were very good in the last game. I thought offensively they did a great job to cause us some problems. We've got to show a lot more toughness in that area. I think with our post players, we've got to get a little tougher inside. We've got some size advantage on Cowley, and we didn't really exploit that the last game. We did at their place, and we didn't here the other night, so those are two areas that I'd really like to see change a little bit."

On how the freshmen heavy team is managing the longer collegiate season…

"You know, you look at the high school teams, they all started in November when we'd already played five or six games by the time they even started. And now a majority of high school teams have already finished their seasons except for those who've qualified for state. So I think our freshmen are realizing wow, this is long. It's a grind. We're just hoping for them, the playoffs give them a renewed energy."

Looking back at last Wednesday's game vs. Cowley…

"I didn't think we played with any energy the other night. I thought we were very stale. Maybe that's my fault. We talked before the game that it doesn't matter win or lose, we're still getting the bye. We're still getting fourth. Maybe that was a mistake on my part even talking that way. So right now we just need to lock in, and hopefully get that energy back. We've had two great practices so far."

With it being the last home game, talk about the fan support your program has received this year…

"Yeah, the crowds have been amazing this year. This year has had some of the best crowds that I can remember over my last six, seven, eight years. You know, 17 years ago when I started, there wasn't as much social media and things to do so people were in here all the time. It was packed. The last few years it's really kind of slowed down. But this year, I feel like it's been great. The student section has been awesome. The young man who, you know, takes his shirt off behind the glass up there... I love it (chuckling). The football team last week was amazing. We're hoping they show up again tomorrow. Our regular fans that sit over there in the gold have been great too.