Third quarter surge helps No. 14-ranked Butler pull away from Cowley in 64-54 win

Cowley (8-7) falls to 4-5 in the Jayhawk Conference. Butler (14-1), winners of five games in a row, remains one-half game behind conference-leading Dodge City with a conference record of 8-1.

After falling behind 19-9 after one quarter of play, the Lady Tigers trailed by as many as 14 points (25-11) early in the second quarter before outscoring Butler 16-6 over the final 8:13 of the first half.

However, Cowley went cold in the third quarter, and after trailing only 37-33, Butler scored the final 11 points of the quarter to take a commanding 48-33 lead into the final quarter.

Back-to-back three-pointers to open the fourth quarter by Butler's Destiny Smith increased the Grizzlies' lead to 54-33.

The Lady Tigers would pull within 11 (59-48) on a three-pointer by Naya Burleson with 5:03 left to play, but could get no closer than the final deficit of 10 points.

Butler's Destiny Smith came off the bench to go 8-of-15 from three-point range and led all scorers with 24 points. The Grizzlies made 11 three-pointers, while Cowley went only 5-of-22 from beyond the arc.

"We were not very consistent and did not shoot it well," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "We need to start making some shots and play a bit harder on the defensive end."

One player who did shoot it well was Cowley freshman Megan Simon, who went 6-of-7 from the floor and finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

"She was really solid with Mallory (Jackson) being sick and not able to play a lot of minutes," Clark said.

Aniyah Burney led Cowley with 17 points, but shot just 6-of-19 from the floor, while Saliyah Henderson-Johnson added 11 points.

Cowley will have an opportunity to get back on track when it hosts Independence on Saturday at 1 p.m.

"We have got to give a better effort and play with more intensity," Clark said.

The Lady Pirates are 4-11 overall and 1-8 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Box score:

Cowley (54): Zari Walker 3-8 0-0 6, Aniyah Burney 6-19 4-5 17, Naya Burleson 2-5 0-0 5, Megan Simon 6-7 1-1 13, Saliyah Henderson-Johnson 4-13 0-0 11, Zuzanna Komor 0-1 0-0 0, Mallory Jackson 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 22-58 5-6 54.

Butler (64): Ashley Singhateh 4-9 2-2 10, Mya Mayberry 2-9 0-0 5, Aliyah Green 1-3 0-2 2, Keegan Yarick 4-8 0-0 9, Kenzie Galliart 4-5 1-2 9, Destiny Smith 8-17 0-0 24, Brynnae Johnson 1-1 0-0 3, Sienna Lewis 0-2 1-2 1, Elina Syniakova 0-1 1-2 1, Jalyiah Manuel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-55 5-10 64.

Three-pointers: Cowley 5-22 (Henderson-Johnson 3-9, Burney 1-8, Burleson 1-2, Walker 0-1, Komor 0-1, Jackson 0-1), Butler 11-30 (Smith 8-15, Mayberry 1-7, Yarick 1-4, Johnson 1-1, Singhateh 0-2, Lewis 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 25 (Simon 7), Butler 33 (Galliart 7). Assists: Cowley 7 (Burney, Burleson 2), Butler 21 (Mayberry 7). Turnovers: Cowley 13, Butler 13. Total fouls: Cowley 8, Butler 14. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.