Lady Beavers lose to Butler

Much like the men’s team the women needed a win against Butler to improve their post-season seeding. The first five minutes looked like the Beavers forgot how to play and let Butler’s pressure speed them up and jump out to a 14-3 lead. After a quick timeout by Coach Thompson, Pratt settled in and took control of the first half. Hayli Jo Smith sparked the run with 11 points off the bench in the half and Pratt took a 38-33 lead into the break.
 
In the second half it was back and forth for the first 12+ minutes as both teams looked like they were fighting for a their post-season lives. Eventually Butler took control with a late run fueled by offensive rebounds and Beaver turnovers, the exact same problems that doomed Pratt one month ago in Eldorado. Coach Thompson stressed that rebounding would be the key going in and that was exactly the case, as the Grizzlies were an astounding +20 on the glass in the second half, it was clearly the difference. Pratt got 20 points from Ann Pauly who continues to play well in conference. Cari Guyton chipped in 14 and Whitney Bates had 11 assists on the night. The one bright spot for Pratt was the breakout performance for Smith who finished with a career-high 15 points and showed an aggressive scoring mentality that will hopefully carry over the rest way.
 
The women are back on the road Sat., Feb. 25 to take on #2 in the nation, Hutchinson Community College, who is 27-0 (13-0).