Jay Daubenberger
– After a 24 hour delay due to intense snow and ice, the Seward County Lady Saints women’s basketball team went out east to El Dorado, Kansas to take on the top ten nationally ranked Butler Grizzlies where the number six team in the country caught fire quickly and never looked back as Seward County fell in their biggest loss of the season 93-46.
In one of the biggest Jayhawk matchups of the season for the Lady Saints, Seward County and Butler began the matchup with a back-and-forth defensive battle through the first five minutes of action before the Grizzlies managed to create some space and grow a seven point 14-7. A spin move by Ari Gordon led to a made layup and converted the and-one opportunity to put the score at 14-10 Butler before the Grizzlies went on an 8-3 run to wrap up the first ten minutes with a the Lady Saints trailing 22-13.
Trying to chip away at the Butler lead, Seward County tried to find whatever way they could to score, and Xoe Rosalez was able to find a path down the lane for an up and under move to score a layup and cut the Grizzlies’ advantage down to 26-19. Once again however Butler was able to create some momentum and it never left their side for the rest of the half as they scored nine straight points to go up 35-19 before entering halftime up by twenty-two points for a 48-26 lead over the Lady Saints.
With the nationally ranked Grizzlies ahead by a mile, Seward County needed to a miracle to climb back and was unable to answer the call in the second half. Rosalez was able to find her range from the corner for three to put the score at 52-31 but a massive 19-7 run by Butler off of multiple Lady Saints turnovers led to a 71-38 Grizzlies advantage. Naomi Aragonez found an open spot in the paint for an easy two points to help chip away at the deficit before time ran out in the third quarter with Seward County behind 73-40.
The fourth quarter was a battle of polar opposites as Butler was unable to miss a shot while SCCC was unable to make one with the Grizzlies starting the final ten minutes of action with a 14-0 run before Kya Richardson slashed through the defense for the first points of the fourth quarter to put the score at 87-42. After that the Lady Saints could only score four more points including the first career points for Jolie Sprouse as they finished the game against the Grizzlies with a 93-46 loss.
After averaging 21.0 points through the first five games, Jamia Carter was only able to score a team high 13 points while Allie Myers scored 6 points. Seward County as a team shot only 12-48 from the field while turning the ball over 32 times against Butler.
The Lady Saints now fall to 4-2 on the 2023-24 season and a conference record of 1-2 in Jayhawk conference action. Seward County will turn around and prepare for another KJCCC matchup on Wednesday when they take on Northwest Kansas Tech at 6:00 PM at home inside of the Green House on 107.5. Pepsi is the buyout sponsor.