Box Score
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Butler picked up a 65-62 road win at Xavier on Sunday afternoon to improve their overall record to 5-11. The victory also moves BU to 2-3 in the BIG EAST Conference.
The Bulldogs outscored Xavier 18-8 in the fourth quarter to force overtime and the five-minute free throw battle in OT would favor the Bulldogs 5-2. The first road win of the season was highlighted by
Tori Schickel who ended the game with 20 points and 20 rebounds.
Schickel shot 5-for-10 from the field and 10-for-14 from the charity stripe to reach 20 points. Five of her game-high 20 rebounds came on the offensive glass. She also added four assists and four blocks to her stat line in 45 minutes of action.
Michelle Weaver helped spark the BU comeback by scoring 15 points and fellow sophomore
Alexa Bailey scored a career-high 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
The Bulldogs came out of halftime on a mission by going on a 10-2 run to get back in the game. The opening minutes of the fourth quarter featured more of the same results with BU going on a 12-2 scoring run.
Weaver continued to attack from the perimeter while Schickel dominated the paint. Two Musketeers fouled out trying to guard Schickel and the talented sophomore would make Xavier pay by connecting on 10 of her free throw attempts.
The final minute of regulation was action packed with Xavier holding onto a slim two-point lead.
Taylor Buford took a go-ahead 3-point field goal attempt just inside a minute to play, but the ball rolled all the way around the rim and out to keep the score at 60-58.
Great team defense followed the very next possession as BU forced a Xavier turnover with a shot clock violation. With 30 seconds left in the game, BU would call a timeout and draw up another play in hopes of tying the game. The ball went to Weaver who drove through the lane and finished in the paint to knot the score at 60-60.
17 seconds remained after the Weaver layup, giving Xavier a chance at the win. The Musketeers got the ball to Maddison Blackwell in crunch time and her jumper with two seconds would also rim out pushing the game to overtime.
Neither team made a field goal during the five extra minutes of action. The Musketeers made the first free throw of the OT period and Schickel would answer by making one of two. Blackwell would once again go to the line to give Xavier the slim one-point lead with 2:43 left, but
Taylor Buford would respond for Butler by making one of her two attempts.
Butler would continue to feed Schickel in the paint with Imani Partlow and Leah Schaefer on the sideline fouled out. Schickel would draw a foul with 1:18 remaining and connect on a pair. Butler got a stop with the two-point lead and would rebound the Musketeer miss. Weaver ended up with the ball after the board and was fouled immediately. The sophomore guard missed the first, but hit the second free throw to extend the BU lead to three.
Xavier had three chances to tie the game with less than 30 seconds to play. Marquia Turner would drive the ball to the rim with 10 seconds to play, but Schickel rejected the layup to keep BU on top. The loose ball would go to RaeShaun Gaffney who missed a jumper with just six seconds to play. Gaffney's miss was rebounded by Schickel, but Turner made a heads up play to tie up the BU forward and the possession arrow was with the home team. Gaffney's last attempt of the game was off with just two seconds remaining. Butler got the stop they needed and ended the afternoon with their first overtime win of the season.
Butler will return to action next weekend with a pair of road games against conference foes. Friday evening, Jan. 13, Butler will play at DePaul. The weekend will come to a close with a contest at Marquette.
