EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
From one of the worst halfs to one of the best, the Lady Saints erased a poor performance with a 30-point fourth quarter to overcome a 19-point deficit in the Greenhouse Tuesday for a 63-56 win over the No. 23 Butler Lady Grizzlies.
Ari Gordon was key to the rally, dropping a career-high 27 points.
Seward appeared to be on the wrong side of a blowout in the first half. The Lady Saints struggled to make shots and took some low-percentage attempts from mid range while the Lady Grizzlies pushed the ball to the paint for baskets and then added open three-pointers to build a lead.
The Lady Saints trailed 30-16 at half, and Butler opened the second half with two straight buckets to push the lead to 34-16.
The Lady Saints ended the third quarter by outscoring Butler 17-10 to cut the lead to 44-33.
Butler continued to maintain a 10-point advantage early in the fourth quarter, but a pair of back-to-back threes by the Lady Saints tied the score, and by forcing turnovers and connecting on shots down the stretch, Seward outscored Butler 30-13 in the fourth quarter for the 63-56 come-from behind win.
“We challenged them at halftime and asked them if Butler was giving us a look that we haven’t already scouted,” Seward coach Will Marchino said. “The answer was no. Maybe we were a little juiced up. Maybe we are too excited for the moment. We told them to stay easy in every possession. You are going to like where you are after 40 minutes. That was the most impressive second half Ive seen in a long time.”
Defense sparked the comeback.
“We forced them into a lot of turnovers in the second half,” Marchino said. “I was very impressed with our defense.”
He also gave credit to the off-season work done by Gordon.
“Ari Gordon was 0 for 10 last year from three,” Marchino said. “You want to talk about growth and development? There is someone who grew up over the summer and got her butt in the gym and got better. That’s what our team is about, getting better. We haven’t even reached the tip of the iceberg of how good we can truly be.”
The comeback helped make up for a loss at Cloud.
“This is as monumental as us dropping the first game against Cloud,” Marchino said. “I’ll take that one for the team. But the second half, that’s who we are. If you are a Lady Saints fan, this is what you can expect every single night. Hard work, effort and energy all night long. We didn’t give it for the first half, but we sure as heck did for the second.”
