A 3-Peat is Nice, But What Do You Call 4?
WE DID IT AGAIN! The Lady Bears are the Crossroads Conference Girls Basketball Champions for the 4th consecutive year. In order to claim the crown, the Lady Bears had to travel to Summit Christian Academy in a winner take all matchup. Summit Christian is not a friendly place to play as they have very raucous fans and they sit virtually on the court taunting anyone and everyone from the visiting squad, especially during free throws. It was standing room only with many spectators only able to see half of the court. Butler came into the game with a perfect 5-0 record against conference foes while Summit Christian had a 4-1 record. According to the conference bylaws, if there is a tie, then the head to head matchup would be the deciding factor; therefore, whoever won the basketball game was going to be crowned the Crossroads Conference Champion.
Summit Christian was definitely ready for the fight as they were trying to wrestle the crown away from the Lady Bears since no one had been able to do that the last 3 seasons. Summit Christian did everything right early as they built a 10-8 first quarter lead, and then the ball game turned in Butler's favor. Freshman reserve point guard Mady Gepford entered the game and seized the moment and took over the contest. She immediately grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and put it back in for 2 points and then made a key steal and added 2 more baskets, an assist and a couple more steals before Summit Christian could blink. That spark vaulted Butler from a 2 point 1st quarter deficit to a 9 point halftime lead at 29-20.
The third quarter started slowly for the Lady Bears as they could not connect on any field goals while the Lady Eagles of Summit Christian were able to slowly but surely chip away at Butler's halftime lead because of some good offensive adjustments that they made at halftime. Fortunately, Butler was able to go to the free throw line and convert opportunities there and was able to score just enough to hold the lead after 3 quarters at 40-36.
The fourth quarter was set up to be the battle that it was. Mady Gepford once again entered the game and was able to relieve some pressure on Jenna Bosch and bring the ball up the court to give Jenna some much needed rest. Butler was ice cold from the field as the Lady Bears were only able to make 1 field goal the entire quarter and that was on an offensive rebound put back by Alyx Gepford. However, the Lady Bears were deadly from the free throw line. They converted 15 of 22 free throws in the fourth quarter to match Summit Christian's scoring from the field and keep the Lady Eagles at bay by outscoring them 17-15 in the final quarter to bring home the Lady Bears 4th consecutive Crossroads Conference Championship with a final score of 57-51.
Coach Shannon Gepford commented , “This was the harshest environment that most of the kids on the Lady Bears had ever played in and to come out and do the things that they were able to accomplish was truly remarkable. We did not shoot the best, especially in the second half as we only made 3 field goals the entire half (all three by Alyx Gepford), but we knocked down 22 of 30 free throw attempts to win the game. Who said free throws weren't important? They just won us a conference championship.”
The 2013-2014 Lady Bears have just helped rewrite the history books as they and the ladies on the previous 3 years teams are the only ones in the 38 year history of girls basketball in Butler to have won 4 consecutive conference championships. The previous record of three was tied last season and set during the span of the three seasons from 1978-1981. During that span, the Lady Bears have amassed a gaudy record of 34-1 in conference play.
What these ladies have accomplished is truly amazing considering that 6 of them are freshmen. Gabby Blevins and Alyx Gepford are the only 2 seniors and they will have the distinct honor as being the only two Lady Bears to have ever won 4 consecutive conference championships. That distinction can never be taken away or broken, it can only be tied. Hopefully, others will tie it again and again.
Alyx Gepford paced the Lady Bears with 22 points, 12 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists. She was followed by Jenna Bosch with 14 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Mady Gepford was the wild card as she led the Lady Bears with 6 steals, added 9 points and 2 assists and simply was brilliant in the win. Amy Miller grabbed 8 rebounds with 6 of them being offensive and added a blocked shot. Abbie Hobbs came off the bench to block a shot as well. Parker Lawrence chipped in 5 rebounds of which 4 were offensive as Katie Henry and Lena Dolbow each chipped in a bucket.
