VCU women fall to Butler, drop to 8-12

Zachary Holden
Staff Writer

The VCU women’s basketball (8-12, 1-4 A-10) team could not overcome the Butler Bulldogs (13-7, 3-1 A-10) on the road as they fell 65-45 Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis.

The first half was no indication of how the game would end with scoring going back and forth over the first seven minutes. Then Butler made a few baskets and led by eight with just over six minutes to go in the half.

VCU locked down defensively late in the first half and reduced the lead from eight to four going into the intermission.

Butler would start the second half with a big 3-pointer, but VCU kept it close and even got it down to a one point game early on in the half. Over the last 15 minutes, the Rams were outscored 30-15.

Junior Robyn Parks was held to just six points over the final 15 minutes, and finished the game with 21 points and eight rebounds. Parks has scored double-digits in every game this season aside from the opener when she was held to just five points.

To help Parks, freshman Kaneisha Atwater added 12 points and seven rebounds. Poor shooting hurt the Rams as they went 16-of-59 (27.1 percent) on the day. Butler also outscored VCU 28-14 in the paint.

The loss was VCU’s third straight, and brings their record to 8-12 on the season. They are 1-4 in the Atlantic 10 and currently sit 13th in the conference and need to turn things around quickly if they hope to make the A-10 tournament as only the top-12 move on.

VCU returns home to face their second-ranked opposition of the season, the No. 17 Dayton Flyers on Wednesday, Jan. 30.