The conference rivalry between Independence and Butler, a 20 minute drive between the two schools, has resulted in a lot of interest this season with the much improved Lady Patriots and the return of Jamarius Burton to the men’s team. Jamarcus missed all of last season with a knee injury.  The game also drew a large raucous crowd that packed the Independence gym on Friday night.

Women’s Game

Butler 45, Independence 40

The Lady Bulldogs started the game by hitting a 3-pointer and immediately went into a full court pressure defense that either created a turnover or put the Lady Patriots on the foul line.   However, the Lady Patriots kept fighting and scored nine first quarter points on a 3-pointer by Brianna McManus and a basket by Laura Flynn. Indy went 4-of-7 from the charity stripe to trail by only one 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter Butler’s pressure created 15 foul shots for the Lady Patriots.  But unfortunately Indy only managed to make 7 of the 15 free throws and made only one shot from the floor for 9 second quarter points while giving up 15 to make the half time score 25-18 in favor of the Lady Bulldogs.  Also in that second quarter Indy’s leading scorer Barylyn Milton picked up her fourth personal foul and had to sit out most of the second quarter.

Indy started the second half with Milton on the bench.  Junior guard Sharonda Smith stepped up and took over the point for the Lady Patriots.  Indy cut the Butler lead to three on a basket and a free throw by Smith. Butler went back to a 7-point lead before taking a time out.  With 2:44 left in the third quarter Indy’s head coach Galvani reinserted Milton back into the line up.  As Indy was bringing the ball down the court, Sharonda Smith got hit in the eye by a Butler player and had to leave the game.  As the third quarter was coming to an end, both teams turned the ball over, but Butler came up with the ball and hit a lay up as time ran out to take a 35-27 lead going into the fourth quarter.

With only six seconds played into the final period, Ayanna Anderson was fouled going to the basket.  Anderson made the first of two but missed her second shot.  Indy’s Brianna McManus got the rebound and was fouled on her shot.  McManus made one of her two shots making the score 35-29 with 7:52 remaining in the game.

McManus cut Butler’s lead to three points  35-32 on a 3-point shot with 7:10 left in the fourth.  On Butler’s next possession the Lady Bulldogs missed a three point shot.  Indy got the rebound and drove the ball down court but missed the shot, got the rebound missed the shot again, got the rebound and missed its third straight shot.

At this time Butler slowed the game down.  After running some time off the clock, Butler scored and moved back to a five point lead 37-32 with 5:45 left to play in the game.  Butler continued to slow the game down and with 5:21 left Butler’s shot was off the rim.  Indy’s Alexandria Barrino came down with the rebound and was fouled giving Indy the ball under Butler’s basket.

With five minutes remaining Braylyn Milton drove to the basket, made the shot and was fouled.  However, the referee ruled that Milton was fouled before the shot, and Indy had an inbounds play under its own basket.  On the inbounds play McManus made the shot and cut the score to 37-34.

With 4:53 to go in the game Butler committed  its seventh foul which put  Ayanna Anderson on the line shooting a 1-for-1 with Indy trailing 37-34.  A lane violation was called against Indy which turned the ball over to Butler.

Butler continued its slow down game.  With 4:21 remaining Indy’s Kalyn Perry stole the ball, drove to the basket, missed the shot but was fouled.  Perry missed both of her free throws and Butler rebounded with 4:16 to go in the game.  With 3:49 to go Indy trailed by three.  Braylyn Milton drove to the basket and was fouled.  Milton made both of her foul shots cutting Butler’s score to one point 37-36.  Butler rushed the ball down the floor and caught Milton, with four fouls, under the basket and went in for the lay up.  Indy quickly moved the ball down the floor but missed the shot.  Butler got the rebound, made the shot and moved back to a five point lead 41-36 with 2:53 left in the game.

With 2:12 left in the game, Butler slowed down the game and was content to hold the ball.  Coach Galvani called for the defense to put pressure on the ball.  Brianna McManus came out and applied enough pressure to cause a five second call giving Indy the ball with with 1:48 to go, but Butler stole the inbounds pass and Indy was called for a foul.  With 36 seconds left in the game and Butler on the line 43-38, Butler was called for a lane violation giving Indy the ball.  Indy’s shot was off, and Butler got the rebound.  Indy fouled immediately putting Butler on the line with 18 seconds left.  Butler missed the shot.  Indy came down with the rebound and got the ball to Sharonda Smith for the basket cutting the score to three 43-40 with ten seconds left in the game.

Indy fouled on the inbounds pass putting Butler on the line with 8.4 seconds left to play.  Butler made both of the free throws and took a five point lead 45-40.  The Lady Patriots the got ball down the court and had two shots at the basket before time ran out giving the Lady Bulldogs a 45-40 conference win over the Lady Patriots.

After the game Indy’s head coach Lauren Galvani said:  “We had two young people step up tonight and played their hearts out.  Braylyn had four fouls in the first half and could not play with her for most of the second quarter and all the third quarter.  We did put her in toward the start of the fourth quarter.  Ayanna Anderson stepped up with 17 rebounds.  Our freshman Kalyn Perry stepped up on defense and made them feel real uncomfortable.  Butler is a very good team and handles pressure well.  Kalyn stepped in and took Braylyn’s role on that sense.”

“I told the players this was the best they have played together as a team.  We missed out on the little things.  Free throws we were 19-for-36.  We make some of those and it is a completely different game.  We told them we were proud of them  This is as close as we have played Butler in who knows how long.  They are a good team and hopefully this will help us out, and we will see some good talent in the Christmas tournament, and it should help for the rest of the season.”

Brianna McManus 14, Sharonda Smith 10, Ayanna Anderson 6 points, 17 rebounds, Laura Flynn 4,  Braylyn Milton 3, Alexandria Barrino 3 points, 4 rebounds.

The Lady Patriots are now 7-4 overall and 2-2 in conference.

Butler               10  15  10  10  –  45

Independence     9    9    9  13  –  40

Men’s Game

Butler 70, Independence 78

The Patriots avenged their last year loss to the Bulldogs with a 78-70 win on Friday night at Independence High School.

Indy opened the game with Andra McKee draining a 3-pointer from the top of the key for a 3-0 lead.  After Butler’s Gerrale Gates cut the score to one, Indy tried a lob to Matthew Smith but Butler got a hand on the ball.  McKee came out with the loose ball and made the basket to make the score 5-2.

With 4:49 remaining to play in the first period, Indy moved out to a 7-4 lead and increased it to 11-6 on a Miles Pauldin rebound and put back with 4:49 left in the quarter.  McKee drove the base line to make to the score 13-6. Jamarcus Burton finished the quarter with a basket in the paint to make the first quarter score 15-8.

The Patriots started the second quarter with a 3-pointer from Jordan Mobley.  Matthew Smith increased Indy’s lead to ten 29-19 with 4:24 left to play in the first half.  Jordan Mobley hit another 3-pointer to make the score 32-19, and McKee hit a 3-point shot with 2:20 to go making the score 39-21.

Butler made a little run at the end of the half to make the score 41-27 with 52 seconds to go in the half.  Burton finished the half for the Patriots scoring from the line with 8 seconds left to make the half time score 43-28.

Butler started the third quarter with a basket and a free throw by Gates making the score 43-31.  Then the Bulldogs went to a full court press. Indy moved out to a 50-33 lead at the 6:30 mark on a Matthew Smith basket.  The big play of the quarter came with 5:50 remaining in the period.  Raja Milton stole the ball at midcourt and drove to the basket.  However, he missed the layup but Matthew Smith was following the play and took the ball out of the air and slam dunked the ball for the score.

A few minutes later Smith got another dunk to put Indy up 54-33 with 4:50 left in the quarter.  With 3:40 remaining McKee got a rebound and drove the length of the court for the score.

As the quarter was winding down Smith drove to the basket and was fouled hard by the Butler defense but no call was made.  Butler took the loose ball and hit a 3-point shot making the score 59-46 with 1:45 left in the third period.

With 34 seconds left on the clock, Indy turned the ball over giving Butler an easy basket cutting the score to 59-48.  However, Indy pushed the ball down the floor getting the ball to Bruton for the final basket of the third quarter making the score 61-48.

In the final period Butler’s Jordan McPhatter cut the score to 11 at the 7:40 mark.  The Bulldogs down by 21, cut the score to 9 points with 7:19 left in the game.

Andra McKee put Indy back up by 11 with a couple of foul shots followed by a three point shot by Jordan Mobley and Indy was back up to a 14 point lead 66-52 with 5:03 left in the game.

With 3:22 left to go, Burton went to the line and moved Indy out to a 72-59 lead.  Smith followed with a two handed dunk to make the score 74-61.

In the final minutes Butler made a little run but came up short as Indy won the game 78-70.

After the game, I asked Coach Davis about his thoughts on the win over rival Butler.  Coach Davis stated:  “It was a huge win for us.  You know anytime you can beat your rival it is a good day.”

“Both teams are good and the kids on both teams compete and they got after it tonight.  We had great atmosphere from the fans, and I’m just glad we could pull it out.”

I asked Coach Davis about Jamarius Burton.  “He is a huge part of what we do here.  He has shown good leadership quality.  He plays under control and never gets in a rush.  He just kinda helps everybody stay calm, but he can also choose and pick his spots to attack.”

I also asked about Andra McKee. “AJ is phenomenal.  He is the ultimate competitor.  He is not going to back down from anyone.  He got us going early tonight, and he played very disciplined on both ends of the court. He did a great job defensively guarding one of Butler best players D.J. Little. You know you don’t stop someone like that.  You just try to slow him down. He did a great job.”

Andra Mckee 26, Jordan Mobley 19, Jamarius Burton 15 points, 10 rebounds, Matthew Smith 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, Raja Milton 3, Miles Pauldin 2.

Butler                 8   20  20  22  –  70

Independence     15  28  18  17  –  78