No. 15 Butler women fall at home to Garden City, 67-63

On the same day they ascended into the national rankings, the Butler women were stunned at home by Garden City in a 67-63 loss at the Power Plant.

Butler trailed most of the game before mounting a furious rally in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies took a 59-56 lead before giving up seven straight to Garden City, setting the stage for the loss.

Butler fell behind 10-5 midway through the first quarter but didn't allow Garden City to score in the final 5:15 of the period. Butler would only get two points of its own during that stretch and trailed 10-7 after a quarter.

Garden City led by 10 in the second quarter. Cassie Pauls hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the half as Butler cut the gap to 29-23 at the half.

Garden's largest lead was 41-29 in the third quarter and the Broncbusters were still up eight with 8:39 to go in the game, at 49-41. 

That's when Butler began its surge. Backed by the hot shooting of Tamara Lee, the Grizzlies got within two at 56-54 with 5:05 to go. Lee was later fouled and Garden City's Shala Dobbins was also called for a technical foul with 3:59 to play.

Lee made three of the four free throws to put Butler in front for the first time at 57-56. Moments later, she came up with a steal and a layup that gave Butler its largest lead at 59-56.

Butler would then go cold again and Garden City outscoed the Grizzlies 11-4 to close out the contest.

Tamara Lee led Butler with 21 points, while Kyeria Hannah scored 13 and Cassie Pauls had 12 off the bench. Garden City was led by Jenna Classen's 16 points. 

Butler sees a 12-game home winning streak snapped with the loss, and also sees its four-game winning streak over Garden City come to an end. The Grizzlies are now 10-2 on the season with a home game against Barton coming up on Saturday.