Amaral’s Go-Ahead 3-Pointer Leads NMJC (WBB) to Upset No. 1 Butler at Nationals  

Freshman Luisa Amaral hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds in OT to send the T-Birds to the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Quarterfinals.

The T-Birds upset No. 1 overall seed Butler 82-79 to advance to face Walters State in the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Quarterfinals Saturday, March 28 at 10 a.m. CDT on ESPN+.

"We talked about at halftime when we were down, I think it was seven or eight, how we've got to get our toughness back that we had the first quarter and just refused to lose," NMJC women's basketball head coach Austin Mefford said. "Butler took it to us the third quarter again. They killed us on the boards the second and third quarter and finally with about six minutes left in the game we scored and took a timeout and said 'we've got to go all in right now.' We're going to have to press. We've got to go all in and make a run the last seven minutes. We started getting stops and started getting turnovers and getting easy baskets. They just bought in and played hard the last six minutes of that game and got us back in it and won it in overtime."

The Thunderbirds have made the Quarterfinals in three straight seasons under 6-year head coach Austin Mefford.

NMJC showed no fear at the start of the game against No. 1 Butler as Mefford suggested. The T-Birds jumped out to a 20-14 lead after one quarter of play exactly like in the first round game against Arizona Western. 

Jada Graves knocked down a jumper at the 4:57 mark to give NMJC a 29-27 lead in quarter 2. Butler caught fire and went on a 16-6 run over the rest of the quarter to grab a 43-35 halftime lead. The Grizzlies extended their lead in the third quarter to a game-high 16 points, 55-39, with 4:16 remaining in the quarter. The Thunderbirds ended the third quarter trailing Butler 59-46.

The Grizzlies pushed their lead back up to 16 points in the fourth quarter, 68-52 with a 6:09 to play. A pair of free throws by Luisa Amaral, a layup by Graves, and a 3-pointer by Amaral pulled NMJC within single digits at 68-59. Graves hit another layup and Amaral knocked down a pair of free throws to make the score 68-63 at the 2:21 mark.

Graves knocked down a jumper to move NMJC within a possession, 68-65, and cap off a 13-0 run. Butler ended the scoring drought with a little over a minute to play as the Grizzlies led 70-65.

Amaral continued her late-game heroics, drawing a foul with 22 seconds left and hitting both free throws to make it 70-67 Butler. The T-Birds had four fouls to give and fouled three times in a row. The fourth foul would be the fifth of the quarter and send Butler to the line to shoot two. Amaral cut in front of the entry pass and went coast-to-coast, laying the ball up with 13 seconds left to set the score at 70-69 Butler. 

Butler was immediately fouled with 11.8 seconds left and went 1-for-2 from the line. NMJC called the timeout and Graves got the call driving to the cup and laying it up to tie it at 71 with seven seconds left. The Grizzlies had a chance to win it, but the shot was off target and gave the ball back to NMJC with three seconds to go. 

Graves took the handle and drove to the basket, but her shot did not go, and Butler and the T-Birds were headed to OT.      

NMJC took a quick four-point lead in OT behind a Graves layup and a Zarai Lewis jumper. The Grizzlies whittled the lead to one possession and tied the game up at 79 off a fast break layup following a Lewis miss in the final 30 seconds of OT. 

NMJC had the ball with 22 seconds remaining and decided to play it out with the ball in Jada Graves's hands. The sophomore guard drove to the cup and was triple teamed in the lane. She promptly kicked it out to Amaral on the right wing for a wide open 3-pointer which she drilled. NMJC led 82-79 with under five seconds remaining in overtime. 

Butler's 3-point attempt at the buzzer was no good as the Thunderbirds went on to upset the No. 1 team in the country for the second time this season. Jada Graves tied the school record in points with 41 in the 81-74 win over No. 1 South Plains on Jan. 19, 2026.   

"I didn't want to call timeout. I wanted to let us play," Coach Mefford said. "I felt calling a timeout would let them set up their defense a little bit more. As Jada got it up top, they helped so much the previous time when Jada got to the basket and she still scored. We told Luisa to stay in that corner and if they want to help off you knock it down.

Jada attacked and Luisa was open. She found her and Luisa hit the big shot. It was an unselfish play by Jada because she could've easily taken the shot, but she made the right play and Luisa came through."

Jada Graves finished Thursday's game versus Butler with her third 30-point game of the season, scoring 33 points in the morning matchup. The Amarillo, Texas native also dished out 10 assists to record her seventh double-double of the year. She added seven boards and four steals. 

Sophomore Zarai Lewis was the other starter in double figures with 10 points and three steals. Luisa Amaral scored 21 of the team's 24 bench points and added five rebounds.

"Luisa is growing up before our eyes," Coach Mefford said. "She's playing well on both ends of the floor. She's really changed the game the last two games. The other night she hit a big three and got a steal for a layup. She did the same today. She's just been incredible and is playing with a lot of confidence. We talked about it after the game, she was 1-of-7 to start the game and found her groove and didn't stop shooting and ends up with 21."

Addison Edwards had a career-high five blocks and notched six points and six rebounds. Madison Wilson finished the day with a team-high 11 rebounds.   

"Addison changed the game on the defensive end," Coach Mefford said. "We talked about how physical Butler is, how aggressive they are, how much they pounded it inside and took it to the basket today. Addison got in foul trouble early and actually came out. I think we put her in about eight minutes or so. I told her go play, if you foul out, you foul out. We can't leave anything out there, and we can't have you sitting here. She was huge all night for us on the defensive end and really played the last eight minutes and overtime with four fouls. It just showed the maturity of her as a freshman. Addi was incredible today and made winning plays for us."

The T-Birds shot 32-for-82 (39.5%) from the field, 7-of-32 (21.9%) from the 3-point line, and 11-of-15 (73.3%) from the charity stripe. NMJC forced 18 turnovers and held the Grizzlies to 35.8% from the field.

The No. 16 T-Birds advance to the Quarterfinals of the NJCAA DI Women's Basketball Championship and will face No. 8 seed Walters State Saturday, March 28 at 10 a.m. CDT on ESPN+ in Lake Charles, Louisiana. 

The T-Birds do not have a single opponent in common. The Senators are 28-2 on the year with their two losses coming to tournament teams in Shelton State and Chipola.

Walters State outlasted State Fair 73-63 in the Round of 16 at Townsley Arena in Lake Charles, LA on Friday, March 27. NMJC will aim to slow Senators guard Terryauna Griffin who finished the game against State Fair with 29 points.     

"We beat the No. 1 team in the country," Coach Mefford said. "The fact that we did it twice this year against two different teams is pretty special. We're in a good spot now. We've taken over the No. 1 seed spot in the bracket where you get the bye with the day off. Walters State has to play two days in a row now, so we're in a great spot and now this tournament is wide open. Anybody can win it so why not us?"

The game will be televised on ESPN+ and an $11.99 subscription will be required to catch the games live. Live stats can be found here. 

To keep up to date with tournament scores and action visit the tournament results page. The full bracket can be found here.