Butler women beat first-place Cloud for fourth straight win

The Butler women continued their winning streak in conference play by beating first-place Cloud County by a 64-53 score at home on Wednesday in the Power Plant.

Cloud, which came into the night 5-0 and tied with No. 1-ranked Hutchinson atop the Jayhawk West standings, struggled to score early against the Butler defense. Meanwhile Ashlee Ivy scored the first nine points of the game. After a layup by Jamillah Bonner, the Grizzlies led 11-0.

Cloud didn't score its first points until it got a pair of free throws from Jayna Smith with 13:31 left in the first half. The Thunderbirds didn't get a field goal for the first 10 minutes.

By then, the Grizzlies were already up by 15 points and saw the lead grow to as many as 19 after two straight baskets by Jamillah Bonner made the score 25-6 with 4:33 left in the half. Butler went into the half with a 34-17 lead.

In the second half, the Grizzlies led by 19 points on multiple occasions, but a 9-0 run by Cloud down the stretch cut Butler's lead to 10 at 58-48. A late 3-pointer would get Cloud within seven points with just over a minute to play before the Grizzlies scored the final four points of the game.

Ashlee Ivy led Butler with 19 points, just two shy of her career high of 21 scored in December against Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa. She has been in double figures in six straight games and eight of the past nine. Jamillah Bonner scored 14 and Carly Bettencourt had nine.

Butler is now 16-4 overall and 4-2 in Jayhawk West Conference play, having won four straight after an 0-2 start. The Grizzlies are in fourth place in the conference standings, just one game behind Cloud and Seward, which are tied for second at 5-1. The Grizzlies have a chance to continue to move up in the standings when they travel to Seward on Saturday.