Women's Basketball Preview at Barton (February 15th)

#20 Butler at #17 Barton

Wednesday, February 15th | 5:30 PM Tipoff

Barton Gymnasium | Great Bend, Kansas

Watch Live: butlergrizzlies.com/watchlive (PPV$)

Live Stats: tinyurl.com/582tapcp

Notes compiled by Wyatt Ebersole

Series since 2011: Butler leads 14-7 | Last meeting: Barton won 62-54 in El Dorado on December 12th

Opening notes:

• The 20th ranked Butler Grizzlies will travel to Great Bend to battle with the #17 ranked Barton Cougars on Wednesday night
• The game is a battle for second place in the conference as the winner will take sole possession and be at least two games behind first place Dodge City
• The Cougars are looking to complete their first two-game season sweep of the Grizzlies for the first time since the 2011-12 season
• Butler has won nine of their last ten, with the only loss being on the road to first place Dodge City 63-70
• Barton has won eight of their last ten and have won five straight
• The two most recent losses for the Cougars are at Cowley, where Barton lost the battle of the cats 94-75 to the Cowley Tigers on January 25th, and a home loss to Dodge City on January 14th, 65-79
• Barton has the #1 scoring defense in the conference while the Grizzlies have the #2
• Barton is 24th in the nation in points allowed per game at 56.1 and the Grizzlies are not far behind at #31 averaging 57.4 points allowed per game
• Butler is 2-4 against nationally ranked teams this season
• Butler is 9-2 in road games this season and 98-41 on the road since 2012
• Barton is 12-1 at home this season with the lone loss being to Dodge

Last action for the Grizzlies

Saturday February 11th | Cloud 56, Butler 75

• The Butler Women ran away late from the Cloud T-Birds to pick up a bounce back win 
• The Grizzlies made 20+ free throws for the third time in the last four games
• The 19-point win for the Grizzlies was their first double-digit in their last four games
• Freddie Wallace led the Grizzlies once again in scoring, this time with 16 followed closely by Randi Harding who had 15
• The Grizzlies forced 25 T-Bird turnovers

Quick scouting of the Cougars

• The Barton Women are coached by Alan Clark who in his seventh season leading the Cougar clan
• The Cougars are led in scoring and rebounding by covid sophomore standout Jenny Nkem-Womsi who averages 15.0 points and 13.2 rebounds per game
• Womsi's 13.2 rebounds per game is best in the conference and is good for fifth best in the entirety of NJCAA Division 1
• All of Barton's usual starters this year are sophomore returners
• Dating back to the 2018-19 season, the Cougars have lost four straight Region VI Championship games

Last time against Barton

• Barton won 62-54 behind 18 points and 16 rebounds from Jenny Nkem Womsi
• The Grizzlies shot 52.0% (13/25) from the free throw line, their worst mark over their last 13 games
• After Barton took a 7-5 lead at the 4:26 mark of the first quarter, they held the lead the rest of the game, despite the game being close
• The Cougars led by as many as 13 points in the game, that coming in the third quarter at the 5:18 mark when they took a 50-37 lead

Series Notes (Since 2011)

• Butler leads the series 14-7 since 2011, but Barton has won three of the last four matchups
• Four of the last five matchups have been decided by nine or fewer points
• Butler holds the largest margin of victory in a single game in this series, beating Barton by 32 in the 2020 Region VI Championship 84-52
• Butler won the last meeting at Barton 67-53 on December 13th, 2021, behind 16 points from Syncere Harrod
• Jenny Nkem Womsi has recorded a double-double in each of the three games she has played against Butler in her career as a Cougar 

When Freddie scores, the Grizzlies win

• The Butler Women are 21-2 this season when Freddie Wallace scores 10+ points in a game and are 0-2 when she doesn't
• Freddie scored 21 points on the Cougars when the teams met earlier this year, but the Grizzlies still fell 54-62

A Grizzly Win would…

• Improve them to 22-4 overall and 17-4 in conference play
• Be their second straight win
• Move them to 10-2 on the road this season
• Break their two-game losing streak to Barton
• Clinch a first-round bye in the upcoming Region VI Playoffs (or with a Seward loss)
• Keep the Grizzlies very slim chances alive in the race for the conference title with Dodge City
• Keep the Grizzly solely in second place in the conference for now

A Grizzly Loss would…

• Drop them to 21-5 overall and 16-5 in conference play
• Be their second loss in their last three games
• Be their third straight loss to Barton
• Lose the season series to Barton for the first time since 2011
• Drop the Grizzlies to third place in the conference
• Delay the Grizzlies chance to clinch a first-round bye
• Eliminate the Grizzlies from the conference title race

Looking ahead

The Grizzlies get this Saturday off and then will host the Cowley Tigers at the Power Plant in El Dorado on Wednesday night for a big matchup