Women roll to 42-point home victory over Allen

In front of a big crowd of local elementary students, the Butler women dominated Allen with a 92-49 home win Wednesday afternoon at the Power Plant.

RaVon Nero scored a game-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds, while Tamara Nard added 15 points and six rebounds for the Grizzlies.

With the win, Butler (14-5 overall, 7-2 conference) remained atop the Jayhawk East standings while winning its fifth straight game. Heading into Wednesday night's action, the Grizzlies have a full one-game lead over Coffeyville and Independence. The strong performance comes after the Grizzlies struggled in a 75-70 road win at Cloud County on Monday.

"I couldn't be prouder of how we responded today after a big meeting we had yesterday," said Butler head coach Mike Helmer. "I am super proud of them for how they responded, had a great first half and a great finish to the game as well."

Butler led by as many as 28 points in the opening half, pushed its lead to 30 with 6:31 remaining in the contest, then scored the final 11 points enroute to the 42-point blowout win.

"We played three really good quarters tonight," Helmer said. "We want to play four, but it is a step in the right direction and I am proud of them."

"(Against Cloud) we started off kind of slow, but we got it figured out at the end," Nard added. "Today, we played together. We played with heart."

Tied 4-4 early, Butler took the lead for good on a Nard field goal, then Maddy Willis-Rosa and Camille Downs hit back-to-back 3-points on consecutive possessions for a 12-4 lead.

The Grizzlies stretched the lead to 18 with a 11-0 run, beginning with a Dana Johnson basket with 2:06 left in the second quarter. Butler then scored the first nine points of the second quarter, which included a Nero field goal and bonus, then a Nero 3-pointer.

Carissa Beck hit the first of four 3-pointers with 1:23 remaining in the half for Butler's largest lead of the first half at 44-18.

Butler's ability to convert points off of Allen's mistakes was key in building the early lead, as the Grizzlies scored 26 points on 15 Red Devil turnovers.

Butler struggled in the third quarter, only outscoring Allen 17-16 to take a 61-38 lead into the final quarter. The Grizzlies managed to find new energy in the final 10 minutes, beginning with a 15-2 run to open the quarter. Nero scored three straight baskets as Butler took a 76-40 advantage with 5:20 remaining.

The Grizzlies continued to play hard until the final buzzer with 11 straight points in the final 2:09, as Butler outscored Allen by 20 points in the final quarter.

Butler outrebounded Allen 47-29 while making 43.8 percent (35-of-80) from the field. Allen made just 29.6 percent (16-of-54) and struggled from beyond the perimeter with 14.3 percent (3-of-21). The Grizzlies finished with 42 points off turnovers, scored 35 points off second chances and had 38 points in the paint.

"I thought our effort was good today," Helmer said. "I thought our attitude was amazing today and this team can score. We just need to learn how to be tougher defensively, tougher rebounding, tougher effort and I saw that a majority of the game."

Next up for the Grizzlies will be a road contest Saturday at Independence beginning at 4:00 p.m. The Pirates (9-7, 6-3) were tied with Coffeyville for second place heading into Wednesday's evening action. 

"Saturday will be a monster game," said Helmer. "Indy is really good. They have a great guard who plays really hard. Any time you play Indy it is going to be a dog fight, so we have to be locked in and ready to go."