Women's Basketball: Weekly Release

Feb. 18, 2002

WRAPPING UP THE REGULAR SEASON: The Butler women's basketball team will conclude its regular-season on Thursday (Feb. 21) when the Bulldogs host Wright State in a 7 p.m. meeting at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The game will be televised locally by WTBU.

SCOUTING THE RAIDERS: Wright State enters the contest against Butler holding a 5-20 overall mark and a 3-11 record in Horizon League action. Butler leads the overall series against the Raiders, who have dropped five of their last six outings, 15-5.

The Coaching Staff: At the helm of the Wright State squad is first-year head coach Bridgett Williams. She is assisted by Tracee Jones, Claire Moon and Kevin Williams.

The Roster: Leading the Raiders in scoring this season is Tiffany Webb, who averages 15.9 points per game. She has led WSU in points in 16 games this year. Teammate Iesha Gray also averages double figures in scoring (10.1 ppg), while Robyn Swain leads the team, and ranks second in the league, in rebounding with 7.1 boards per game.

Last Time We Met: Tiffany Webb's layup with nine seconds left broke a 74-74 tie, and a free throw by Brie Pennington sealed Wright State's 77-74 Horizon League victory over the visiting Bulldogs on Jan. 26 at the Ervin J. Nutter Center.

Sophomore Nancy Bowden paced Butler with a career-high 21 points. In addition, the 5-3 point guard added six assists, without a turnover, and five steals to her totals. Freshman Angel Mason finished with a career-high 15 points while sophomore Sarah Bolten tallied 14 points. Freshman center Cortney Urquhart added a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds to the Butler totals.

Webb scored a game-high 23 points to lead four Raiders in double figures. Katie Bussan added 13 points and Angie Ott and Iesha Gray chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.

FLAMES DOUSE BUTLER: Jaysie Chambers scored a game-high 22 points and added 15 rebounds as Illinois-Chicago rolled past Butler 60-51 on Saturday (Jan. 16) at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

After finding themselves behind 26-24 at halftime, the Flames used an 8-0 run to begin the second half and take the lead for good. UIC's advantage would grow to as much as 16 points with under six minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs would end the game on a 5-0 mini-run to keep the deficit under double figures.

UIC limited Butler to just 14 field goals in the game and held the Bulldogs to 32.6 percent (14-43) shooting, including an 18.8 percent clip (3-16) from long range. The Flames ended the game shooting 41.9 percent (26-62) from the field and held a commanding 45-28 rebounding edge.

VICTORIOUS ON VALENTINES DAY: Sophomores Nancy Bowden and Sarah Bolten each poured in 18 points to lead the Butler women's basketball team to an 81-73 triumph over Loyola on Thursday (Feb. 14) at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The Bulldogs took an early first half lead, as they held the Ramblers to just one field goal in the first eight minutes of action. Loyola would narrow the gap to 11-10 at 11:42 off of a layup by Tracy Hoffman, but

Butler would go on to score the next 11 points, taking a 21-10 advantage. The Ramblers would again fight back as a layup by Ciara Henderson at 3:48 would bring her team to within 29-25. But, Butler ended the period on a 13-5 run to go into intermission up 42-30.

The Bulldogs took an 18-point lead, their largest of the game, on a layup by Nancy Bowden with 13:20 left to play. Loyola then went on a 13-3 run over the next six and a half minutes to pull within 65-61. But, the Bulldogs would hit key shots down the stretch, en route to capturing their second win of the season.

SNAPPING THE STREAK: Butler's win over the Ramblers snapped a 17-game losing streak, the longest skid in the history of the program. The victory also marked the first in Horizon League action for the Bulldogs. The last time Butler had emerged victorious was a 78-73 OT triumph over Bowling Green on Dec. 4.

BALANCING ACT: Four players scored in double-figures in Butler's triumph over Loyola. In addition to Nancy Bowden and Sarah Bolten's 18 points, freshman Maria Marchesano tied a career high with 15 points and redshirt freshman Angel Mason rounded out Butler's offensive attack with 14 points.

DISHING 'EM OUT: Sophomore Nancy Bowden dished out eight assists, while committing only two turnovers, against the Ramblers. Her eight helpers tied a career high, and moved her into sixth place in the league with 3.96 assists per game.

AIMING HIGH: The Bulldogs came up one point shy of their season high scoring output, tallying 81 points against the Ramblers. Their best mark of the season was an 82-point output against Cleveland State on Dec. 28. Butler also put forth its best shooting effort of the season, posting a 49 percent clip from the field on the game. In addition, the Bulldogs had one of its top three-point outings this year, connecting on 10 shots from long range.

CHARITY WORK: Sarah Bolten's 2-for-2 performance from the charity stripe against Loyola helped keep her in atop the team in free throw shooting. Bolten is shooting 87.9 percent from the free throw line overall this season, and is recording a stellar 96.2 percent (25-26) clip in league action. Her only miss against a league opponent came against UIC on Jan. 19.

SMITH'S SCORING SPREE: Sophomore Tiffany Smith paced Butler with 16 points in the Bulldogs loss to UIC. That was her highest output since her 21-point effort at Youngstown State on Jan. 5. The 5-8 guard is averaging 7.4 points per game.

DEFENSIVE STAND: Butler limited UIC to just 60 points on Saturday, marking the least points allowed by an opponent this season. Over the last three games the Bulldogs have only allowed foes an average of 65 points per game, more than 15 points shy of their season average of 80.7 points per game.

PENGUINS FREEZE BUTLER: Heather Harris led three Youngstown State players in double figure scoring, as the Penguins downed the Butler women's basketball team 62-52 on Saturday (Feb. 9) at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

MARCH MADNESS: Freshman Maria Marchesano recorded a team-best 13 points in Butler's loss to Youngstown State. The reserve guard scored has led the team in scoring three times this season and is averaging 7.5 points per game.

FREEBIES: The Bulldogs posted impressive marks from the free throw line against the Penguins, as the squad went 11-of-12 from the charity stripe, for a season-high 91.7 percent.

TRIPLE THREAT: Sophomore Tiffany Smith and freshman Maria Marchesano helped keep Butler's 34-game streak with a three-point field goal alive, as they combined for three triples against UIC. To date, the Bulldogs have connected on 160 three pointers, compared to the 2000-01 season's total of 66 triples.Butler ranks fifth in the league in three-point field goals made, averaging 6.15 per contest, but rank second in the league behind Cleveland State in three-point field goals attempted (546).

LEADING THE WAY: Eight different players have led Butler in scoring this season. Sophomore Nancy Bowden has led the offensive attack in nine games, followed by Sarah Bolten (eight times), Maria Marchesano (three times), Lisa Pryor (three times), Tiffany Smith (three times), Dionne Goodwin (once) and Angel Mason (once), Cortney Urquhart (once).

A PERMANENT FIXTURE: Sophomore Sarah Bolten is the lone Bulldog to start in all 26 contests this season. The 5-10 forward leads team in scoring (10.8 ppg) and in rebounding (7.8 rpg), while playing an average of 34.8 minutes per contest. She tied the school's single-game scoring record earlier this season with 37 points against Bowling Green. Her seven three-point field goals in the contest broke the school record, which was set by Debbie Benziger (11/28/95) and Jennifer Marlow (12/29/96).

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS: Injuries have been a common occurrence for this season's Butler women's basketball team. The Bulldogs suffered two season-ending injuries over the holiday break as sophomores Lisa Pryor and Dionne Goodwin were both recent victims of ACL tears causing them to miss the remainder of the season. Pryor, who averaged 9.8 points and had started in 12 games this season, went down with her knee injury with 7:23 remaining in the initial Cleveland State game after hitting a layup. Goodwin's ACL injury had just developed over the season. Goodwin had played in ten games this season and ranked third in the league with 2.8 offensive rebounds per game at the time of her injury.

NEW ADDITIONS: The Butler women's basketball team inked two recruits in the early signing period. Stephanie Boeke, a 5-10 point guard from Minster, Ohio and Nicole Budgake, a 6-3 forward/center from North Canton, Ohio are the newest additions to the 2002-03 roster.

COACHING STAFF: Head coach Wendy Gatlin, who is in the midst of her third season with the Bulldogs, maintains a 20-60 record with the program. Joining Gatlin (Marshall '92) in the coaching ranks this season are assistant coaches Cathy Marx (Iowa '94), Itoro Coleman (Clemson '99) and the most recent addition, Kim Rockey (Taylor '82), who came to Butler after serving as an assistant coach for Columbia University.

BULLDOGS ON THE INTERNET: For the second consecutive year, selected Butler women's basketball games will be broadcast over the internet on www.butlersports.com. Each of Butler's home games will be broadcast along with selected away games. Broadcasters for the games are Butler telecommunication students Ryan Falquist (color) and Matt Harris (play-by-play).

Probable STARTING LINE-UP FOR BUTLER

UPCOMING: Butler will begin play in the inaugural Horizon League Tournament next week (Feb. 27-Mar. 2), which is hosted by Loyola. The Bulldogs, who have ensured themselves a ninth seed in the tournament, will take on either Wright State or UIC in the 8-9 play-in game on Feb. 27 at 8 p.m.