EL DORADO, Kan. – Drawing the No. 3 seeded Butler Community College Grizzlies, the Dodge City Community College women's basketball team saw their 2016-17 season come to an end in the opening round of the NJCAA Region VI Tournament with an 87-57 loss at the Butler Power Plant on Thursday, March 2nd.

Zach Loll's first year at the helm of the Conquistadors ends at 4-27 overall while the Grizzlies (24-6) advanced to Monday's Region VI Quarterfinal Round at 5 p.m. at Hartman Arena in Park City, KS.

Things would stay close early on as Butler would build a 9-4 lead just 3:35 into the first period before a short-handed Dodge City team scored the next five points on a Denis Ortiz jumper and Alexus Johnson triple to tie the game at nine. A Johnson runner in just outside the paint with 4:08 remaining in the first quarter would pull the Conquistadors back within one at 14-13 before the Grizzlies would take advantage of a gassed DC3 team to end the quarter on an 11-2 run. The run would continue for BCC, scoring the first seven points of the second quarter before Johnson would end the run on another three to keep Dodge City within striking distance at 34-18. Dodge City would close to within 13 at 38-25 midway through the first half before a 13-4 run would put give Butler a comfortable 51-29 lead at intermission.

Hot shooting performances from the first half would not carry over to start the second half as a total of five points would be scored in the opening five minutes of the second half. Mariah Watkins would knock down her fourth trey of the game with 4:57 left in the third quarter to pull the Conquistadors to 53-35 and looking to build momentum off 6-2 run to start the third. The defensive mindset would continue for Dodge City throughout the rest of the third quarter, holding Butler to a game-low eight points while doubling up BCC to trail just 59-45 heading into the fourth. Heavy legs would set in for the final 10 minutes play, as no available substitutes would take its toll on DC3. Following a Johnson jumper to get within 12 just over a minute into the fourth, Butler would score the next nine points to start to pull away. Dodge City would make one last push, but would see the Grizzlies answer on the other end of the floor to end the season for the Conquistadors.

Dodge City shot 32.8 percent (20 of 61) from the floor and connected on nine of 33 three's (27.3%), but would be outdone by Butler who would finish 35 of 80 (43.8%) from the field. Rebounding would play a large factor in the game as the Grizzlies would collect 51 boards compared to 30 for DC3 and hold a 26-9 advantage in second-chance points.
Johnson would finish her career in purple and gold by scoring a game-high 24 points and dishing out five assists while Sada Smith fell just shy of a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds. Watkins would score 13 points while Ortiz added eight. Dakota Hoffman had eight rebounds and connected on two of her three shots from the field.