Butler Puts Damper on Lady Saint Season

As Seward County Lady Saints Head Coach Toby Wynn has said many times "it looks like you are playing pretty good when the shots are falling". Unfortunately for #7 Seward, the shots were not falling Saturday night in the Greenhouse on Sophomore Night in Liberal as Seward found themselves playing catch up all night, before eventually falling 68-61 to Butler, giving the Lady Grizzlies their first win over the Lady Saints in the Greenhouse since the 1995 season.

Things started good for the Lady Saints as Kyndal Davis got them on the board 36 seconds into the game to give them a 2-0 lead. That lead would last for 1:26 and little did Seward know, that would be the last time they would lead all night. It was a one point game in favor of Butler with 12:36 to go in the half, but the Grizzlies went on a 16-2 tear to blow the game wide open. Butler led it 28-13 with just under 7:30 to go in the half and extended that advantage to 18 later on as Seward had trouble even slowing the Lady Grizzlies down. A three from Jasmine Jordan followed by a pair of free throws from Davis cut the Butler lead to 10 with just over a minute to go in the half but seven Grizzly points in a span of just 36 seconds before the halftime horn made it a 43-26 lead in favor of the visitors at the break.

Every statistical category pointed towards a lopsided Butler lead at the break as the Grizzlies shot 51% from the floor to Seward’s 39% while outrebounding the Lady Saints 22-15 including 7 offensive rebounds. Seward also had trouble taking care of the ball as they turned it over 14 times in the first 20 minutes while Butler gave it to the Lady Saints just 6 times. One bright spot at the break for the Lady Saints was Davis who scored 17 of Seward’s 26 first half points.

After facing their largest deficit of the night early in the second half at 19, the Lady Saints finally showed some life, going on a 13-0 run over a stretch of 3:30, capped off by back to back three’s from Rebekah Hatchard to all of a sudden make it a six point game at 47-41 with 15:10 still left on the clock. But just as quick as they got back into it, Butler regained their momentum, quickly doubling their lead back to 12 at the second half media timeout. The Lady Saints stayed within striking distance, but just couldn’t get over the hump, remaining behind by seven, 60-53 with two minutes to go. Davis made it a five point game with 1:14 to go on an offensive rebound and putback, but that was as close as the Lady Saints would get as Seward was 0 for 3 with a turnover on their final five possessions of the game and Butler finished off the huge upset 68-61.

Seward just never clicked offensively in the loss, shooting just 36% on the night while watching Butler shoot 44%. Butler dominated the boards, outrebounding Seward 46-33 including 14 offensive rebounds and Seward turned the ball over 21 times compared to 17 for the Grizzlies. Davis scored a career high 29 for Seward in the loss, she also hauled in a team best 9 rebounds on the night. Hatchard finished with 17 points and hit four three pointers. The remainder of the Seward lineup scored just 15 points and finished the night 5 for 28 shooting.

The Lady Saints lose a key game, dropping to 25-3 on the year and their Jayhawk West title hopes are dashed as they now sit 13-2, two games behind Hutchinson with one game to go. Butler improves to 22-6 overall and 12-3 in Jayhawk West play where they are just one game behind Seward for 2nd place. The win is the first for Butler in 18 tries in the Greenhouse, a stretch dating back to the 1995 season.

Seward won’t have much time to lick their wounds as they travel to Hutchinson on Wednesday to take on the top ranked and undefeated Lady Dragons in a 5:30 tip from the Sports Arena to wrap up the regular season. A win for Seward would secure 2nd place in the conference standings while a loss and a Butler win over Pratt would force a coin flip for 2nd and 3rd place between the Lady Saints and Lady Grizzlies.

#7 SEWARD COUNTY/BUTLER BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wbkb/2014-15/boxscores/20150221_cgye.xml>

Roy Allen