A valiant effort for three quarters was not enough to save Allen Community College from division leader Butler. The Lady Devils simply ran out of steam in the final quarter, being outscored by nine and losing 72-56.
“A 16-point game is not indicative of how that game felt. It was eight points the whole way, and a three-point game at halftime,” ACC head coach Rachel Janzen said. “We fought our tails off and I’m so proud of them. I mean they are the top team in the conference, they are very good.”
Butler entered Saturday’s contest atop the Jayhawk East with a 12-4 record in conference play. Meanwhile, the Lady Devils sat bottom of the division at 2-13. Earlier in the season Butler topped ACC 92-49.
With a less than impressive record, Janzen decided to shake up the starting five against the Grizzlies. Usual starters Brandi Jordan and Maisie Schroeder were replaced by Taryn Kelley and Kyla Gipson.
“We kind of mixed it up a little bit, and doing a little bit of different rotations with our posts, too,” Janzen said. “I’m changing up the energy that comes off the bench. We have certain players who are huge sparks, and they usually start. And we are kind of switching it up to see what happens when somebody else comes off the bench. They bought into it and have been fighting for those spots.”
ACC trailed 19-12 after the first period. Ariel Walker and Zariah Sang led the way with 4 points each in the period. In the second quarter the Lady Devils closed the gap.
Upon request, Jordan brought the juice off the bench with a 3-pointer, bringing the Lady Devils within five with just under two minutes remaining in the first half. Seconds later, Courtney Crippen broke onto the open floor for a fast break finish, bringing ACC within reach at the half, down only 32-29.
Jordan got the Lady Devils on the board with a trey after nearly five scoreless minutes to open the second half. While ACC’s defense stood firm, its offense lacked efficiency. The Lady Devils converted a measly 28% of their second-half attempts. The Devils scored only 8 points in the third, and trailed 44-37 heading into the fourth.
The Grizzlies opened up the fourth with a 9-2 run, taking a double-digit lead and giving Butler its largest lead at 14. ACC came within single digits after Walker connected from deep and Schoreder knocked down 2 of 2 from the line. But the Lady Devils couldn’t fight their way back completely, losing 72-56.
Walker and Sango finished as ACC’s leading scorers with 14 and 13 respectively, the only two in double figures.
The Lady Devils will travel to Coffeyville tonight before returning to their home floor on Wednesday to host Cloud County.
