CINCINNATI – The Butler Bulldogs went to the Cintas Center on Saturday afternoon and left with a 78-70 victory over the Xavier Musketeers. Naira Caceres had the best day of her Butler career with 23 points, seven rebounds and a team-best four steals.
 
Caceres and Kristen Spolyar each scored 23 points to pace the offense for the team's first BIG EAST win of the season. Four Bulldogs ended the contest in double figures as Katherine Strong chipped in with 11 and Oumou Toure was right behind with 10. Toure just missed a double-double by pulling down a team-high eight rebounds.
 
Butler went on 9-0 run in the fourth quarter to open up a 12-point lead. They controlled the action the whole way, leading for nearly 33 minutes on Saturday.
 
Xavier won the first quarter 20-19, behind a strong showing from A'riana Gray. She scored 10 points over the first 10 minutes in this one and ended the game with 28 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Butler won the second and fourth quarter by five. They limited the Musketeers to just 11 points in the second and exploded for 25 points in the fourth to seal the victory.
 
3-point shooting kept the home team in the game as Xavier made 10 shots from behind the arc. Butler shared the ball well on Saturday, pushing out 20 assists on 30 made field goals. They shot 56.6% from the field and were able to knock in 16 points from the charity stripe.
 
Butler beat up Xavier on the inside winning the points in the paint battle 46-24. The defense forced 13 turnovers which resulted in 28 points. Eight different Bulldogs registered a steal in this one, pushing the total to 13.
 
The 'Dawgs will look to take this momentum into next weekend with more road games at Villanova and Georgetown.