Bulldogs Host Wright State In League Action

Jan. 15, 2003

Notes on WSU

* Wright State enters Thursday's game with a 4-10 overall record and a 2-2 mark in Horizon League action. The Raiders are riding a two-game winning streak, having defeated Detroit (70-65) and Cleveland State (68-64) last week.

* The Raiders boast the Horizon League's top scorer in sophomore guard Tiffany Webb. Webb, who has led Wright State in scoring in 13 of the team's 14 games, is averaging 22.6 points per game. No other player is averaging double-figures in scoring for WSU.

* At the helm of the Raiders' squad is head coach Bridgett Williams, who is in her second season with the team. Williams is 10-32 at Wright State

* Wright State returns six letterwinners, including four starters from last year's 6-22 team. The Raiders were picked to finish ninth in the Horizon League preseason poll.

* Butler holds a 15-6 overall series lead against the Raiders. Wright State won both of the regular-season meetings last year, but the Bulldogs were able to claim a 74-61 victory in the play-in game of the Horizon League Tournament.

Run Down By The Ramblers: Freshman Stephanie Boeke scored 12 points Nancy Bowden added 11 points, but it wasn't enough as the Bulldogs fell to Loyola 69-58 on Jan. 9 at the Joseph J. Gentile Center. The win marked Loyola's sixth straight. Angel Mason narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds in front of her hometown crowd, and Bowden added eight assists and five steals to her totals.

Leader of the Pack: Stephanie Boeke led Butler in scoring for the first time in her young career against Loyola. Six different players have led Butler in scoring this season.

Ousted In Overtime: Detroit's Caitie Goddard scored seven points in overtime to lead the Titans to an 84-79 overtime win against Butler on Jan. 7 at Calihan Hall. Goddard had scored only two points prior to overtime, but hit a three-pointer and went four-for-four from the line to lift Detroit to the Horizon League victory.

A Balanced Attack: For the first time all season, the Bulldogs had five players record double-figures in scoring in a single game. Cortney Urquhart led the Bulldogs with 17 points, just one shy of her career high. Nancy Bowden (14), Stephanie Boeke (13), Jessica Monaco (11) and Dionne Goodwin (10) also tallied double digits in scoring.

Double Duty: Sophomore Cortney Urquhart tallied the Bulldogs' fifth double-double of the season with a 17-point, 12-rebound performance against the Titans. Angel Mason has also recorded a pair of double-doubles for Butler, while Nancy Bowden has one under her belt this season as well.

Season Highs: Several players recorded season highs in Butler's overtime battle against Detroit. Freshmen Stephanie Boeke and Jessica Monaco, who combined for 17 of the team's first 22 points, posted new scoring highs. Boeke finished with 13 points, while Monaco turned in 11. Junior Dionne Goodwin recorded 10 points and seven rebounds against the Titans, both of which were season highs and Cortney Urquhart's 17 points also marked a season-best for the 6-2 center.

League Honors: Nancy Bowden became the first Butler women's basketball player to be named the Horizon League Player of the Week since Kelly Kuhn was honored during the 2000-01 season. During the week of Dec. 30, Bowden scored 20 points, two shy of her career-high, and set a new career-high with seven steals to go along with five assists in the Bulldogs' loss to Eastern Michigan. The 5-2 floor leader then recorded 16 points, including a 9-of-10 performance from the free throw line, five assists and four rebounds in Butler's 69-63 win over UIC in the Bulldogs' league opener. She averaged 18 points, five assists and 3.5 rebounds in the two games for the Bulldogs.

Dousing The Flames: After holding a 64-40 lead with ten minutes remaining, the Butler women's basketball team withstood an amazing 23-5 Illinois-Chicago run down the stretch to claim a 69-63 win in its Horizon League opener at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

A Strong Start: Butler's win over the Flames gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 record in the Horizon League, marking the first time since the 1999-00 season that Butler had won its league opener. The Bulldogs did not capture its first win in Horizon League play last season until Feb. 14, after Butler began league play with an 0-13 record.

Pryor Pours It On: Junior Lisa Pryor poured in a game-high 17 points against UIC. She also added a career-high six assists to her totals.

At Home In Hinkle: The Bulldogs' win against UIC also snapped a five-game homecourt losing streak. Butler is now 1-5 in Hinkle Fieldhouse this season.

Showing Improvement: The Bulldogs, which are now 3-10 overall and 1-1 in the Horizon League, have already tied their overall and league win totals from last year. Butler finished 3-26 and 1-15 during the 2001-02 campaign.

She's Baaaack: Sophomore Christine Cox returned to action on Saturday against UIC, after nursing a foot injury for the first ten games this season. Cox recorded one rebound in her brief stint against the Flames. She then tallied one rebound, one blocked shot and one steal at Loyola. The 6-3 center played in 20 games last season and averaged 1.5 points and 1.8 rebounds while on the court.

Line 'Em Up: Sophomore Cortney Urquhart is the lone Butler player to have started in all 13 games this season. Nancy Bowden has started in 12 of the team's affairs, while no other player has appeared in the starting lineup more than seven times. Head coach Beth Couture has seven different starting lineups throughout the season.

Top Dog: Nancy Bowden leads the Horizon League with 7.0 assists per game, nearly two assists better than the player ranked second. Bowden also ranks first in steals per game (3.31) and ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.65).

All-Tourney Honors: Sophomore Angel Mason was named to the Fresno State Classic all-tournament team for her efforts on the court. Mason scored a team-high 17 points off the bench in Butler's loss to the Lady Racers. Fresno State captured the Tournament title with a ten-point win over San Diego State in the championship bout.

Balancing Act: The Bulldogs boast a balanced offensive attack as six players are averaging 7.5 points or more. Nancy Bowden is leading the team with 11.0 points per game, followed by Angel Mason (10.8 ppg), Cortney Urquhart (10.2 ppg), Lisa Pryor (9.0 ppg), Tiffany Smith (7.5 ppg) and Stephanie Boeke (7.5 ppg).

Injury Prone: For the second consecutive year, the Bulldogs have again been plagued by numerous injuries. Sophomore guard/forward Maria Marchesano will miss the next 1-2 weeks due to a stress fracture in her foot. Freshman Nikki Budgake missed the first five games due to excessive bruising within her knee capsule. Fellow freshman Jessica Monaco was sidelined for the first four games this season with an ACL sprain and sophomore Christine Cox missed the first ten games this season due to an injury to her foot. Junior Tiffany Smith has been the latest injury victim, suffering stress fractures in both of her legs. She is expected to miss the next month of action.

Missing Maria: Sophomore forward Maria Marchesano's absence on the court is something the Bulldogs have missed for the last seven games. Marchesano put up some impressive numbers from long range during her rookie season. The 5-10 forward set school records for three-pointers in a single-game (7) and season (64) and averaged 10.1 points per game in Horizon League action. She was named to the 2001-02 Horizon League All-Newcomer team.

Winning Ways: One of first year head coach Beth Couture's long-term goals is to renew the winning tradition of the Butler women's basketball team and she certainly took a step in the right direction on Nov. 25 when the Bulldogs captured a 59-57 win over Illinois State. The triumph over the Redbirds marked the earliest first-game win since the 1999-00 campaign. Since then, Butler had started out 0-2 (2000-01) and 0-6 (2002-03).

A Dozen Does It: Junior guard Nancy Bowden recorded 12 points to go along with 12 assists against Bradley. Her 12 assists were a career-high, surpassing her old mark of eight, and ranks in a fifth-place tie on Butler's single-game list.

Doubling Over: Eight different players have recorded double-figure scoring outings for the Bulldogs. Nancy Bowden leads the way with nine double figure scoring outings, followed by Cortney Urquhart (8), Angel Mason (7), Lisa Pryor (6), Tiffany Smith (4) and Stephanie Boeke (4), Dionne Goodwin (1) and Jessica Monaco (1).

New Faces: While the 2002-03 Butler women's basketball team returns 10 letterwinners to the court, including four starters, there will be a noticeable difference on the sidelines this season - first year head coach Beth Couture and her staff. Couture is no stranger to success, as she posted 11 winning seasons as the head coach at Presbyterian College, a Division II program in Clinton, S.C. There, she helped her team to three straight conference regular season and tournament titles and earned the conference's Coach of the Year honors on four occasions. Her demand for excellence filters down through her coaching staff, which includes Seph Hatley (Pfeiffer '94), Gene Hill (Coker College '97) and Monica Claridge (St. Joseph's '00).

Trading Spaces: In effort to give the Bulldogs more of a boost in the post positions, head coach Beth Couture moved sophomore Angel Mason and senior Colleen Munro-Leighton to the frontcourt positions this season.

PreSeason Prediction: Junior Nancy Bowden was named to the preseason All-Horizon League Second Team, after being named to the All-Defensive team last year. The Bulldogs were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team conference. UW-Green Bay, which won both the regular season and the tournament last year, was predicted to finish first, followed by UW-Milwaukee, Loyola, Cleveland State, UIC, Youngstown State, Detroit. Wright State rounded out the poll in ninth place.

Watch Out For The Bulldogs: Two of Butler's home games are televised locally by WTBU. Butler fans will get to watch the Bulldogs take on UW-Green Bay (Jan. 23) and Loyola (Feb. 13). Nearly all of the Butler women's basketball home games will be broadcast on the internet this season, in addition to several of the Bulldogs' away games. Log onto www.butlersports.com to listen to Butler telecommunication students broadcast the games.

Young Guns: The 2002-03 roster boasts a trio of talented freshmen. Stephanie Boeke will challenge the upperclassmen for playing time at the guard position, while Jessica Monaco and Nikki Budgake's presence in the post will be welcome additions. Boeke, a 5-10 guard, was a two-time all-conference selection at Minster High School. Monaco, a 5-10 walk-on, averaged 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds at Saratoga Springs High School in New York. Budgake is a 6-3 center from North Canton, Ohio, who was a Kodak All-American nominee and was named to the Ohio High School All-Star team as a senior..

D, D, Defense: Bowling Green's 54-point output against Butler was the least amount of points allowed by the Bulldogs since their 65-51 win over William & Mary in the Colorado Thanksgiving Classic during the 2000-01 campaign. The game against the Falcons also marked the second time this season the Bulldogs have held their opponent to under 60 points, as they defeated Illinois State 59-57.

A Look Ahead: First year head coach Beth Couture took the first step in her attempt to renew the winning tradition of the Butler women's basketball program by signing three highly-touted recruits. Ellen Hamilton and Jackie Closser, both Indiana Junior All-Stars, along with Ashley Brenden, a prep standout from Bloomington, Minn., each signed the National Letter of Intent and will be the newest members of the 2003-04 roster.

Shooting Woes: The Bulldogs didn't have the hot hand at Loyola, turning in one of their worst shooting performances of the season against the Ramblers. Butler scored a season-low 58 points against the Ramblers. Its 14.3 percent shooting from long range was also a season low, as was the Bulldogs' marks for three-point attempts (14) and three-point field goals made (2).Butler shot just 37.3 percent from the field on the game.

Up Next: The Bulldogs will travel to Youngstown State on Saturday to take on the Penguins in a non-conference battle at 2 p.m. YSU is 3-10 overall and remains winless in league action with a 0-3 mark.