Bulldogs Look To Make It Two In A Row At Wright State

Feb. 17, 2003

Notes on WSU

* Wright State enters Thursday's game with an 8-14 overall record and a 5-6 mark in the Horizon League, which puts them in a sixth-place tie with Detroit. The Raiders have lost three of their last four outings, with the only win coming against Loyola (65-61).

* Wright State boasts the Horizon League's leading scorer in Tiffany Webb, as the sophomore guard averages 24.3 points per game. No other Raider is averaging double figures in scoring. Webb also ranks in the Top Ten of the league in steals (2.55 pg) and three-point field goals made (1.77 pg).

* 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 15-7 overall series lead against the Raiders. Wright State has won three of the last four meetings, including both of the regular-season meetings last year and an 82-65 decision at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season, but the Bulldogs were able to claim a 74-61 victory in the play-in game of the Horizon League Tournament.

Last Time We Met...: Tiffany Webb set a new school and Horizon League single game scoring record by scoring 49 points in Wright State's 82-65 win over Butler on Thursday evening at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Webb broke the league's nine-year-old record of 46 points, set by Xavier's Carol Madsen during the 1994 season. Her 49-point output included a 17-of-20 performance from the charity stripe, which also snapped her school's record for free throws made and attempted. In addition to Webb's 49 points, teammate Angie Ott tallied 16. Cortney Urquhart's career-high 20 points led the Bulldogs, while Angel Mason added 14 and Nancy Bowden chipped in 12.

Downing Detroit: Butler outscored the Detroit women's basketball team 21-5 in the final 5:37 of the game, en route to a 57-49 victory over the Titans on Saturday afternoon at Hinkle Fieldhouse. After falling behind 42-34, the Bulldogs came back to tie the game at 46 with 2:37 remaining. Butler would then hold the Titans scoreless until Lindsey Pasquinzo hit a three-pointer with seven seconds left. But, by then the Bulldogs had already put the game away, scoring nine of their final 12 points from the free throw line. Cortney Urquhart paced the Bulldogs with 18 points. Nancy Bowden recorded 13 and Lisa Pryor added 10.

Snapping The Streak: The Bulldogs' win over Detroit ended a four-game slide for Butler. It also ended an eight-game losing skid against the Titans, which dated back to the 1998-99 campaign.

D, D, Defense: The Titans' 49-point output was the least amount scored by a Butler opponent since the Bulldogs' 87-43 win over UIC during the 1998-99 campaign. Detroit's 49 points is also well below Butler's opponents' average, as the Bulldogs have been allowing 73.2 points per game this season. Butler is 3-0 this season when holding opponents below 60 points.

Give 'Em A Hand: The Bulldogs tied their season-low with just 11 turnovers against Detroit. Butler, which was averaging just under 19 turnovers per game, committed just three miscues in the second half, en route to their fifth victory of the season.

An All-Around Effort: Nancy Bowden put forth one of her best all-around efforts of the season with a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists against the Titans. That was Bowden's third double-double of the season and the fourth time this year she had recorded double figures in assists. The 5-2 point guard also tied with teammate Cortney Urquhart for the lead on rebounds, by hauling down a career-high seven boards against Detroit. She also added four steals to her totals.

Bad Shooting = Wins?: Despite shooting a season-worst 28.3 percent (17-60), the Bulldogs still managed to pull of the win over Detroit. In fact, in only one of Butler's five wins this season have the Bulldogs shot better than 40 percent. Included on the list of victories where the Bulldogs struggled shooting was a 21-of-74 (.284) performance from the field against Cleveland State.

Stolen Moments: One of the keys to Butler's win over Detroit, was the Bulldogs' points off of turnovers. Butler scored 12 points off of the Titans' 22 turnovers, while Detroit managed just three off of Butler's 11 miscues. The Bulldogs also had 15 steals on the game, compared to Detroit's eight.

Looking For Charity: While the Butler women's basketball team hasn't been known for it's sharp shooting from the free throw line this season, the Bulldogs made the shots when they counted against Detroit. After going 3-for-8 (.375) from the line in the first half against the Titans, Butler shot 71 percent (17-24) in the second half, including a nine-of-ten performance in the final two minutes to seal the victory. The Bulldogs rank last in the league in free throw shooting, posting a .628 clip.

Moving On Up: Nancy Bowden cracked the Butler single season Top Ten list against Detroit, when her four assists versus the Titans gave her 74 swipes on the season, good enough for a ninth-place tie with Barb Skinner (1980-81). Bowden currently has 181 career steals, which puts her in seventh place all-time. The 5-2 floor leader also ranks sixth this season with 152 assists. She is in sixth place all-time with 308 career dishes.

Welcome Back: Junior Tiffany Smith wasted no time in getting herself back on the scoreboard at UIC, after being sidelined for seven games due to a stress fracture in her leg. Smith scored five points and recorded two rebounds and one steal in her seven minutes played against the Flames. Smith made an immediate impact, hitting a long three-pointer after entering the game just five seconds prior. She averages 6.6 points and 2.4 rebounds for the Bulldogs.

Showing Improvement: Butler's win over Detroit nearly doubles the team's win total from last season, as the Bulldogs boosted their record to five overall wins and three victories in league action. The Bulldogs finished with a 3-26 overall ledger and were 1-15 in league action during the 2001-02 campaign.

Leader Of The Pack: Six different players have led Butler in scoring this season, including Angel Mason, Nancy Bowden, Cortney Urquhart, Lisa Pryor and Tiffany Smith who have all been the Top Dog on two or more occasions and Stephanie Boeke who led Butler in scoring against Loyola.

Double Duty: Cortney Urquhart has tallied a team-best six double-doubles on the season, including four against league opponents. Angel Mason have each recorded three double-double outings Nancy Bowden on the season.

Line 'Em Up: Sophomore Cortney Urquhart is the lone Butler player to have started in all 23 games this season. Nancy Bowden has started in 22 of the team's affairs, while no other player has appeared in the starting lineup more than 17 times. Head coach Beth Couture has used ten different starting lineups throughout the season.

Doing The Time: There is no rest for the weary as point guard Nancy Bowden has already compiled 848 in her 23 games played for an average of 36.9 minutes per outing. Bowden has played 40+ minutes in nine games thus far, including playing all 45 minutes in Butler's overtime win over Cleveland State.

Top Dog: Nancy Bowden leads the Horizon League with 6.6 assists per game, more than one assist better than the player ranked second. Bowden also ranks first in steals per game (3.22) and ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.72). Her solid numbers have also put her in the national spotlight, as she ranks 15th among Division 1 players in assists and 29th in steals.

Top Ten List: Cortney Urquhart ranks in the Top Ten of the league in several categories, including offensive rebounds (3rd), rebounding (4th), defensive rebounds (5th), field goal percentage (10th) and blocked shots (t-10th).

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.

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.

Balancing Act: The Bulldogs boast a balanced offensive attack as four players are averaging 9.9 points or more. Cortney Urquhart is leading the team with 10.7 points per game, followed by Nancy Bowden (10.6 ppg), Angel Mason (10.6 ppg) and Lisa Pryor (9.9 ppg).

Doubling Over: Eight different players have recorded double-figure scoring outings for the Bulldogs. Nancy Bowden and Cortney Urquhart lead the way with 16 double-digit scoring outings each, followed by Angel Mason (13), Lisa Pryor (13), Tiffany Smith (4), Jessica Monaco (5), Stephanie Boeke (4), and Dionne Goodwin (1).

Injury Prone: For the second consecutive year, the Bulldogs have again been plagued by numerous injuries. Sophomore guard/forward Maria Marchesano has missed 21 games this season and 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 recently sidelined, suffering stress fractures in both of her legs missed seven games, appearing back on the court for the first time against UIC.

Missing Maria: Sophomore forward Maria Marchesano's absence on the court is something the Bulldogs have missed for the last 21 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

Up Next: Butler will return home to the friendly confines of Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday to battle it out against Youngstown State in the Bulldogs' final home outing of the season. The game also marks the last home outing for the lone Butler senior - Colleen Munro-Leighton.