3rd Quarter the Decider in Lady Saints Loss at No. 2 Butler

EL DORADO, Kan. – Heading into halftime the Seward County Lady Saints were right in the thick of things, trailing by four at No. 2-ranked Butler Community College.

The third quarter saw first-place Butler (24-1, 18-1 KJCCC) outscore Seward (17-9, 12-8) 28-10, breaking the game open as the Lady Saints fell 86-65 at the Power Plant on Saturday afternoon.

Kimora Fagan finished with a team-high 21 points for Seward, her fourth 20-point game of the season. She added six rebounds and two assists. Avery Marchino finished with 14 points and six rebounds and Destiny Alexander had eight points and seven rebounds.

Keegan Yarick scored a game-high 29 for Butler shooting 10-15 from the floor.

Seward shot 23-57 (40.4%) from the field, 5-19 (26.3%) from three and 14-18 (77.8%) from the free throw line.

Butler shot 33-65 (50.8%) from the field, 7-19 (36.8%) from three and 13-21 (61.9%) from the free throw line.

Seward was outrebounded 36-30 and saw Butler finish with 25 assists compared to 12 of their own. Points in the paint went 44-30 to Butler while turnovers were relatively similar, Seward with 15 and Butler 13.

The first quarter was tight throughout with neither team leading by more than three.

Butler opened a 13-point lead midway through the second, but Seward rallied back cutting it down to two with a Fagan layup at the 2:18 mark. Butler led 41-37 at halftime. Fagan had 18 of her 21 in the first half.

Seward was held scoreless over the first four minutes of the second half as Butler pushed its lead to 52-39. They led 69-47 after three and led by as much as 28 in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Saints host Independence on Wednesday at The Greenhouse, tipoff set for 6 p.m.