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Lady Busters beat Butler in overtime
Published 2/8/2008 in Sports : GCCC
By MIKE KESSINGER
mkessinger@gctelegram.com
All the momentum Garden City Community College had gained in the final 10 minutes of regulation could have gone right back to Butler.
Everything the Lady Broncbusters had done to erase a 16-point deficit in the final 10:37 could have been left to mean nothing. It was just that the Lady Broncbusters wouldn't let it end that way after Butler's Lekeshia Levi hit a running jumper at the buzzer Thursday night to send the Jayhawk Conference game into overtime. Instead of letting the shot deflate them, Garden City (9-15, 4-6) pulled it together and for their first time since 2006 swept a conference foe with a 66-63 overtime win.
"I think we always knew deep down that we were going to win it," the Lady Busters Trista Schmitt said. "We have a lot of energy from our bench and LaTaish (Brown) gave us a lot of energy from our bench, and she played great."
With the Lady Busters fueled by contributions made by players like Brown, who finished with nine points, Garden City refused to allow Butler to walk out of the Perryman Athletic Complex with a win. Most of Brown's points came in the final 10 minutes of regulation, starting with layup that started the Lady Busters on a 21-6 run to tie the game at 54-54.
"I knew we had a run left in us," Busters head coach Jake Ripple said. "I was just afraid we had waited too long to start that run."
Through the first 30 minutes, the Busters showed no real run at all. As Butler (6-17, 1-9) built its lead up to 48-32, Garden City's offense had been stagnant. In the first half, the Lady Busters shot 27.6 percent, and weren't any better for 10 minutes in the second half. When it was needed the most though, Garden City put together a strong sequence to put themselves in position for a win. Two Whitney Young free throws with 2.2 seconds left in regulation appeared to be all Garden City would need.
On Butler's inbound pass, the ball was knocked out of bounds past half court by the Lady Busters taking just .2 tenths of a second off the clock. On the inbound pass Levi drove from the right side and put up a floater that sank through the net as time expired.
"I told our kids there's not a better quality than fighting," Ripple said. "They fought all the way until the end. I was just really proud of them."
Schmitt hit one of two free throws to put Garden City on top first in overtime, then a Young jumper and a Briana Loadholt putback off an Amber Brown missed layup off a steal was all that was needed to hold off the Lady Grizzlies.
"Last time we played them we were down by 12 at halftime and we knew that we could make a run on them just as easily today," Schmitt said. "It was a little bit more, but I think we're a lot better team than the first time we played them."
Schmitt finished with 11 point, which was the second best on the team following Katie Novack's 16.
Levi led the way for Butler with 20 points and she tied teammate Tiffany Stokes for game-high honor of 14 rebounds apiece.
The Lady Grizzlies finished with a 56 to 40 advantage rebounding.
Garden City will be at Pratt on Saturday. A win would give Garden City its second season sweep of a Jayhawk Conference opponent.
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BUTLER (6-17, 1-9): Aldrich 2-6 2-2 6, Levi 8-18 4-7 20, Stokes 5-15 0-2 10, Fernandez 3-13 0-0 6, Bruner 0-0 2-2 2, Hunter 1-1 2-2 4, Hancox 4-9 0-0 8, Lewis 3-10 0-0 7. Totals ¬-- 26-72 10-15 63.
GARDEN CITY (9-15, 4-6): Durler 0-2 0-0 0, Young 2-6 5-6 9, Schmitt 4-13 3-6 11, Novack 4-12 5-6 16, A. Brown 4-12 0-4 9, L. Brown 4-7 1-2 9, Copeland 0-1 0-0 0, Burnett 0-0 0-0 0, Johnson 2-3 0-0 4, Loadholt 4-7 0-4 8. Totals ¬-- 24-63 14-28 66.
Halftime -- Butler, 27-21. 3-Point goals -- Butler 1-5 (Lewis 1-2, Aldrich 0-2, Stokes 0-1); Garden City 4-19 (Novack 3-7, A. Brown 1-5, Schmitt 0-5, Copeland 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Rebounds -- Butler 56 (Levi 14, Stokes 14); Garden City 40 (Schmitt 7, Loadholt 7). Fouled out -- Butler, Stokes. Assists -- Butler 4 (Levi 2, Stokes 2); Garden City 8 (A. Brown 4). Blocks -- Butler 3 (Fernandez 2); Garden City 1 (Durler 1).
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