Auh’shay Sanchez
Student Sports Media
The Butler Grizzlies were looking to get the first win on the conference this season as they took on a tough opponent, the No. 10 the Seward Saints, on Wednesday, Nov 28. The Seward Lady Saints beat the Grizzlies twice last season, but this was a whole new team the Saints are playing against.
The Grizzlies were a bit slow starting out the first quarter trailing the Saints, 19-15.
The Grizzlies came back from the 4-point deficit fast. The Lady Saints tried to keep themselves in the game by shooting threes, but it didn’t help as the rebound game for the Grizzlies greatly improved and took advantage of the Lady Saints missed opportunities.
At halftime, Butler had flipped the game around, leading 40-26 at halftime.
Seward dug at the lead in the third but didn’t quite overpower the Grizzlies, as Butler held on to a 47-44 lead at the end of the third.
In the fourth quarter, Seward County double and tripled team sophomore guard Lauryn Snipes as she put on show, and that left sophomore guard Jalise Smallwood, sophomore forward Awreona Ransom and freshman forward Criste’On Waters open for easy points.
Butler as a team offensively shot 42.9 percent from the field, 20 percent from three-point land and 71.4 percent on free throws.
“We felt like we could go off the dribble and really get it in [paint],” Head Coach Mike Helmer said.
Butler on defense blocked five shots, eight steals and most of all 40 rebounds during that night
In the bench, Snipes had herself a day as she led the team in scoring with 20-points, 7-10 in the field, 2-3 on three pointer’s and 100 percent on the free throw that night.
“Playing great team defense, we are playing together, we all know this will be a big game,” Snipes said, “We all came together before the game. We had good energy.”
Waters contributed with 10 rebounds and 15 points giving herself a well-earned double-double.
The win over Seward was just Butler’s third victory over the Saints since the 1999-2000 season. In that span, Seward has dominated the series with a 34-3 record over the Grizzlies.