Lamar won the tip, and drew first blood, scoring on the opening possession. A scoop and score from Tourtillot answered back for the Lady Bears and sparked an 8-0 run in favor of Butler. After a much needed time-out called by Lamar, Heckadon drove to the basket and earned herself a trip to the charity stripe where she went 1 of 2 to end the Butler run. With 30 seconds left in the opening period, Wiss knocked down a triple to pull the Tigers within 7, but with time expiring, Georgia McCoun would answer back with a deep ball of her own, for the Bears.
To open the second quarter, Taylor Hudson rolled in a layup for the Bears off an assist from Gabby Carmichael which led to a 6-1 run in favor of Butler. For much of the period the Tigers and Bears would trade blows, until Clover would knock down a deep ball to spark a 4-2 Bears run to close out the half. The Butler Bears took a 29-16 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Lamar would again strike first as Heckadon drilled home a triple, after which both teams would swap blows for the remainder of the quarter. By the start of the 4th, the Tigers drew back within 10, with a 38-28 score at the end of 3.
In the 4th, the Lady Tigers would again score first, as McCulloch went 1-2 from the line to pull Lamar within 9 with 7 minutes remaining in regulation. To open the quarter the Tigers would outscore the Bears 6-2 to close the gap with a score of 40-34, and force Butler to burn a time out. Out of the Bears time-out, Heckadon drilled another 3 ball to stretch the Lamar run to 9-2 and bring the tigers within 3. Hackadon would then go the line where she knocked down a pair to bring the Tigers within one with a score of 40-39 with 4 and a half minutes to play. McCulloch then hit an inside basket to give the Tigers their first lead of the night with under 3 minutes to play. Carmichael answered for the Bears to go back up 44-43. At the 2 minute mark, Cook made a pair of free throws to spark a 9-5 run to close out the game and give the Bears a 53-48 victory.
The Bears were led by Carmichael with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Dubray ended her night with 13 points and 7 rebounds. McCoun and Cook both put up 6 points as well.
The Bears will move on to play Stockton on Saturday. GO BEARS!
Photo by Erin Dubray, story by Cody Morris, Tailgate TV
